[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5457-5458]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2140]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Customs Service
[ADM-9-03:CO:R:IT:R 912545 FF]
Filing of Contracts and Certifications Covering Textile and
Apparel Products Under Section 334 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act
AGENCY: U.S. Customs Service, Department of the Treasury.
ACTION: General notice.
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SUMMARY: This document advises the public of the requirements and
procedures that must be followed in filing contracts and certifications
with Customs in order to preclude application of new origin principles
to textile and apparel products entered, or withdrawn from warehouse,
for consumption during the period of July 1, 1996 through January 1,
1998, as provided in section 334 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act
(the Act). If a contract and certification are not filed with Customs
in accordance with the procedures set forth in this document, such
textile and apparel products will be subject to the origin principles
contained in section 334(b) of the Act.
DATES: Contracts and certifications must be filed with Customs on or
before February 6, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Contracts and certifications must be filed with the
Director, Office of Trade Operations, Attention: Lisa Crosby, Room
1325, U.S. Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20229.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Crosby, Office of Trade
Operations (202-927-0163).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On December 8, 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Uruguay
Round Agreements Act (the Act), Public Law 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809.
Subtitle D of Title III of the Act deals with textiles and includes
section 334 which concerns rules of origin for textile and apparel
products.
Paragraph (a) of section 334 provides that the Secretary of the
Treasury shall prescribe rules implementing the principles contained in
paragraph (b) for determining the origin of textiles and apparel
products. Paragraph (a) further provides that such rules must be
promulgated in final form not later than July 1, 1995.
Paragraph (b) of section 334 incorporates the following provisions:
(1) General rules for determining when, for purposes of the customs
laws and the administration of quantitative restrictions, a textile or
apparel product originates in a country, territory, or insular
possession, and is the growth, product, or manufacture of that country,
territory, or insular possession; (2) special origin rules for certain
identified goods; (3) a multicountry rule for determining origin when
the origin of a good cannot be determined under the preceding
provisions of paragraph (b); (4) special rules governing the treatment
of components which are cut to shape in the United States from foreign
fabric or are products of the United States and which are exported for
assembly and returned to the United States; and (5) an exception to the
application of section 334 in the case of the United States-Israel Free
Trade Agreement, which specifically provides for the continued
application of the rulings and administrative practices that were
applied, immediately before the enactment of the Act, to determine the
origin of textile and apparel products covered by that Agreement,
unless such rulings and practices are modified by the mutual consent of
the United States and Israel.
Paragraph (c) of section 334 provides that section 334 shall apply
to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or
after July 1, 1996. However, paragraph (c) further provides that
section 334 shall not apply to goods if:
(1) The contract for the sale of such goods to the United States is
entered into before July 20, 1994;
(2) All of the material terms of sale in such contract, including
the price and quantity of the goods, are fixed and determinable before
July 20, 1994;
(3) A copy of the contract is filed with the Commissioner of
Customs within 60 days after the date of the enactment of the Act,
together with a certification that the contract meets the requirements
of paragraphs (1) and (2) above; and
(4) The goods are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption on or before January 1, 1998.
Paragraph (c) was included in section 334 in recognition of the
fact that application of the origin principles contained in paragraph
(b) may result in origin determinations that are different from the
result that would have been reached under prior law and administrative
practice, thus causing undue hardship to persons who had already
entered into binding contracts based on existing law and administrative
practice.
Since the required rules implementing the principles of paragraph
(b) of section 334 are currently at the pre-publication stage and thus
are not available for reference, members of the public must refer to
the provisions as contained in paragraph (b) of the statute in order to
assess the need for filing a contract and certification with Customs as
provided for in paragraph (c). The procedures applicable to the filing
of such contracts and certifications are set forth below.
Procedures for Filing Contracts and Certifications
A legible and complete copy of each contract, together with the
required certification signed by the U.S. party to the contract or
authorized officer or agent thereof, must be filed with the Director,
Office of Trade Operations, Attention: Lisa Crosby, Room 1325, U.S.
Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
20229, on or before February 6, 1995. Customs will provide written
confirmation of each timely filing within five working days of the date
of receipt of the filed documents. Contracts and certifications
[[Page 5458]] which are submitted by mail or courier service and which
are received by Customs after February 6, 1995, will not be considered
to have been timely filed unless they reflect a postmark or other date
of transmission of February 6, 1995, or earlier. If a contract and
certification which otherwise meet the terms of section 334(c) of the
Act are not filed with Customs in accordance with the procedures set
forth herein, the textile and apparel products covered by the contract
will be subject to the origin principles contained in section 334(b) of
the Act.
Following review of each contract and certification, Customs will
determine whether the filed documents meet the requirements of
paragraph (c) of section 334 and will provide written notice to the
filing party regarding that determination. A separate notice will be
published at an appropriate future date regarding the entry or other
procedures to be followed for the period of July 1, 1996 through
January 1, 1998, in the case of goods covered by contracts found by
Customs to meet the requirements of paragraph (c) of section 334.
Dated: January 24, 1995.
A.W. Tennant,
Acting Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations
[FR Doc. 95-2140 Filed 1-24-95; 4:34 pm]
BILLING CODE 4820-02-P
