New Transshipment Charges for Certain Cotton and Man-Made Fiber Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in the People's Republic of China

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

New Transshipment Charges for Certain Cotton and Man-Made Fiber

Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in the People's Republic of

China

May 5, 1998.

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

ACTION: Issuing a directive to the Commissioner of Customs charging

transshipments to 1998 limits.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: May 7, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lori Mennitt, International Trade

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

Commerce, (202) 482-3400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority: Section 204 of the Agricultural Act of 1956, as

amended (7 U.S.C. 1854); Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as

amended.

In a notice published in the Federal Register on September 11, 1996

(61 FR 47892), CITA announced that Customs would be conducting other

investigations of transshipments of textiles produced in China and

exported to the United States. Based on these investigations, the U.S.

Customs Service has determined that textile products in certain

categories, produced or manufactured in China and entered into the

United States with the incorrect country of origin, were entered in

circumvention of the Bilateral Textile Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU) dated February 1, 1997 between the Governments of the United

States and the People's Republic of China. Consultations were held

between the Governments of the United States and the People's Republic

of China on this matter November 5-7, 1997 and January 15-16, 1998.

Pursuant to paragraph 13(E) of the February 1, 1997 MOU between the

Governments of the United States and the People's Republic of China,

the United States may charge three times the amounts transshipped to

China's negotiated quantitative limits, with the amounts distributed

equally over the remaining term of the agreement. Accordingly, charges

will be made to each of the 1998, 1999 and 2000 quota years for

Categories 331, 341, 347/348, 351, 352, 631, 636, 641, 647, 649 and

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

Commissioner of Customs to charge the following amounts to the 1998

quota levels:

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Category Amounts to be charged

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331....................................... 82,122 dozen pairs.

341....................................... 80 dozen.

347/348................................... 518 dozen.

351....................................... 62 dozen.

352....................................... 7,692 dozen.

631....................................... 30,700 dozen pairs.

636....................................... 101 dozen.

641....................................... 1,309 dozen.

647....................................... 25 dozen.

649....................................... 3,061 dozen.

652....................................... 6,372 dozen.

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U.S. Customs continues to conduct other investigations of such

transshipments of textiles produced in China and exported to the United

States. Any charges resulting from these investigations will be

published in the Federal Register.

The U.S. Government is taking this action pursuant to the February

1, 1997 MOU between the Governments of the United States and the

People's Republic of China.

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 62 FR 66057, published on December 17, 1997). Also see

62 FR 67827, published on December 30, 1997.

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements

May 5, 1998.

Commissioner of Customs,

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20229.

Dear Commissioner: To facilitate implementation of the Bilateral

Textile Memorandum of Understanding dated February 1, 1997, between

the Governments of the United States and the People's Republic of

China, I request that, effective on May 7, 1998, you charge the

following amounts to the following categories for the 1998 restraint

period (see directive dated December 22, 1997):

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Category Amounts to be charged

------------------------------------------------------------------------

331....................................... 82,122 dozen pairs.

341....................................... 80 dozen.

347/348................................... 518 dozen.

351....................................... 62 dozen.

352....................................... 7,692 dozen.

631....................................... 30,700 dozen pairs.

636....................................... 101 dozen.

641....................................... 1,309 dozen.

647....................................... 25 dozen.

649....................................... 3,061 dozen.

652....................................... 6,372 dozen.

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The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has

determined that these actions fall within the foreign affairs

exception to the rulemaking provisions of 5 U.S.C.553(a)(1).

Sincerely,

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

[FR Doc. 98-12271 Filed 5-6-98; 8:45 am]

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