Establishment of a New Export Visa Arrangement for Certain Cotton, Wool and Man-Made Fiber Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Poland

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Establishment of a New Export Visa Arrangement for Certain

Cotton, Wool and Man-Made Fiber Textile Products Produced or

Manufactured in Poland

January 16, 1996.

AGENCY: Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA).

ACTION: Issuing a directive to the Commissioner of Customs establishing

export visa requirements.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: January 22, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Naomi Freeman, International Trade

Specialist, Office of Textiles and Apparel, U.S. Department of

Commerce, (202) 482-4212.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority: Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended;

section 204 of the Agricultural Act of 1956, as amended (7 U.S.C.

1854).

The Governments of the United States and Poland agreed to establish

a new Export Visa Arrangement for certain cotton, wool and man-made

fiber textile products, produced or manufactured in Poland and exported

from Poland on and after January 1, 1996. Goods exported during the

period January 1, 1996 through January 31, 1996 shall not be denied

entry for lack of a visa. All goods exported after January 31, 1996

must be accompanied by an appropriate export visa.

In the letter published below, the Chairman of CITA directs the

Commissioner of Customs to prohibit entry of certain textile products,

produced or manufactured in Poland and exported from Poland for which

the Government of Poland has not issued an appropriate export visa.

A facsimile of export visa stamp is on file at the U.S. Department

of Commerce in Room 3100.

A description of the textile and apparel categories in terms of HTS

numbers is available in the CORRELATION: Textile and Apparel Categories

with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (see Federal

Register notice 60 FR 65299, published on December 19, 1995).

Interested persons are advised to take all necessary steps to

ensure that textile products that are entered into the United States

for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, will meet

the visa requirements set forth in the letter published below to the

Commissioner of Customs.

D. Michael Hutchinson,

Acting Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile

Agreements.

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements

January 16, 1996.

Commissioner of Customs,

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20229.

Dear Commissioner: Under the terms of section 204 of the

Agricultural Act of 1956, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1854); pursuant to a

Memorandum of Understanding dated November 21, 1995 between the

Governments of the United States and Poland; and in accordance with

the provisions of Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as

amended, you are directed to prohibit, effective on January 22,

1996, entry into the Customs territory of the United States (i.e.,

the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of

Puerto Rico) for consumption and withdrawal from warehouse for

consumption of cotton, wool and man-made fiber textile products in

Categories 335, 338/339, 410, 433, 434, 435, 443, 611 and 645/646,

produced or manufactured in Poland and exported from Poland on and

after January 1, 1996 for which the Government of Poland has not

issued an appropriate export visa fully described below. Should

merged categories or part categories become subject to import quota

the merged or part category(s) automatically shall be included in

the coverage of this arrangement. Merchandise in the merged or part

category(s) exported on or after the date the merged or part

category(s) becomes subject to import quotas shall require a visa.

Goods exported during the period January 1, 1996 through January 31,

1996 shall not be denied entry for lack of an export visa.

A visa must accompany each commercial shipment of the

aforementioned textile products. A circular stamped marking in blue

ink will appear on the front of the original commercial invoice or

successor document. The original visa shall not be stamped on

duplicate copies of the invoice. The original invoice with the

original visa stamp will be required to enter the shipment into the

United States. Duplicates of the invoice and/or visa may not be used

for this purpose.

Each visa stamp shall include the following information:

1. The visa number. The visa number shall be in the standard

nine digit letter format, beginning with one numerical digit for the

last digit of the year of export, followed by the two character

alpha country code specified by the International Organization for

Standardization (ISO) (the code for Poland is ``PL''), and a six

digit numerical serial number identifying the shipment; e.g.,

6PL123456.

2. The date of issuance. The date of issuance shall be the day,

month and year on which the visa was issued.

3. The original signature of the issuing official and the

printed name of the issuing official of the Government of Poland.

[[Page 1565]]

4. The correct category(s), merged category(s), part

category(s), quantity(s) and unit(s) of quantity of the shipment as

set forth in the U.S. Department of Commerce Correlation and in the

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, annotated or

successor documents shall be reported in the spaces provided within

the visa stamp (e.g., ``Cat. 340-510 DOZ'').

Quantities must be stated in whole numbers. Decimals or

fractions will not be accepted. Merged category quota merchandise

may be accompanied by either the appropriate merged category visa or

the correct category visa corresponding to the actual shipment

(e.g., Categories 338/339 may be visaed as 338/339 or if the

shipment consists solely of 338 merchandise, the shipment may be

visaed as ``Cat. 338,'' but not as ``Cat. 339''). If, however, a

merged quota category such as 338/339 has a quota sublimit on

Category 338, then there must be a ``Category 338'' visa for the

shipment if it includes Category 338 merchandise.

U.S. Customs shall not permit entry if the shipment does not

have a visa, or if the visa number, date of issuance, signature,

printed name of the signer, category, quantity or units of quantity

are missing, incorrect or illegible, or have been crossed out or

altered in any way. If the quantity indicated on the visa is less

than that of the shipment, entry shall not be permitted. If the

quantity indicated on the visa is more than that of the shipment,

entry shall be permitted and only the amount entered shall be

charged to any applicable quota.

The complete name and address of a company actually involved in

the manufacturing process of the textile product covered by the visa

shall be provided on the textile visa document.

If the visa is not acceptable then a new correct visa or a visa

waiver must be presented to the U.S. Customs Service before any

portion of the shipment will be released. A visa waiver may be

issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce at the request of the

Embassy of Poland in Washington, DC, for the Government of Poland.

The waiver, if used, only waives the requirement to present a visa

with the shipment. It does not waive the quota requirement.

If the visaed invoice is deficient, the U.S. Customs Service

will not return the original document after entry, but will provide

a certified copy of that visaed invoice for use in obtaining a new

correct original visaed invoice, or a visa waiver.

If import quotas are in force, U.S. Customs Service shall charge

only the actual quantity in the shipment to the correct category

limit. If a shipment from Poland has been allowed entry into the

commerce of the United States with either an incorrect visa or no

visa, and redelivery is requested but cannot be made, the shipment

will be charged to the correct category limit whether or not a

replacement visa or waiver is provided.

Merchandise imported for the personal use of the importer and

not for resale, regardless of value, and properly marked commercial

sample shipments valued at U.S.$250 or less do not require an export

visa for entry and shall not be charged to existing quota levels.

A facsimile of the visa stamp is enclosed.

The actions taken concerning the Government of Poland with

respect to imports of textiles and textile products in the foregoing

categories have been determined by the Committee for the

Implementation of Textile Agreements to involve foreign affairs

functions of the United States. Therefore, these directions to the

Commissioner of Customs, which are necessary for the implementation

of such actions, fall within the foreign affairs exception to the

rulemaking provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1). This letter will be

published in the Federal Register.

Sincerely,

D. Michael Hutchinson,

Acting Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile

Agreements.

[FR Doc. 96-746 Filed 1-19-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F