Establishment of an Export Visa Arrangement for Certain Cotton, Wool, Man-Made Fiber, Silk Blend and Other Vegetable Fiber Textiles and Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Cambodia

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Establishment of an Export Visa Arrangement for Certain Cotton,

Wool, Man-Made Fiber, Silk Blend and Other Vegetable Fiber Textiles and

Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Cambodia

December 14, 1998.

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 1, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roy Unger, International Trade

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

Commerce, (202) 482-4212.

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.

Pursuant to exchange of notes dated March 11 and August 8, 1997,

the Governments of the United States and Cambodia agreed to establish a

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

silk blend and other vegetable fiber textiles and textile products in

Categories 200-239, 300-369, 400-469, 600-670 and 800-899, produced or

manufactured in Cambodia and exported from Cambodia on and after

January 1, 1999. Products exported during the period January 1, 1999

through January 31, 1999 shall not be denied entry for lack of a visa.

All

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products exported on and after February 1, 1999 must be accompanied by

an appropriate export visa.

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).

Information regarding the 1999 CORRELATION will be published in the

Federal Register at a later date.

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for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, will meet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

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements

December 14, 1998.

Commissioner of Customs,

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20229.

Dear Commissioner: Pursuant to section 204 of the Agricultural

Act of 1956, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1854); Executive Order 11651 of

March 3, 1972, as amended; and the Export Visa Arrangement, effected

by exchange of notes dated March 11 and August 8, 1997, between the

Governments of the United States and Cambodia, you are directed to

prohibit, effective on January 1, 1999, 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, man-made

fiber, silk blend and other vegetable fiber textiles and textile

products in Categories 200-239, 300-369, 400-469, 600-670 and 800-

899, produced or manufactured in Cambodia and exported from Cambodia

on and after January 1, 1999 for which the Government of Cambodia

has not issued an appropriate export visa fully described below.

Should additional categories, 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 visa

arrangement. Merchandise in the category(s) exported on or after the

date the category(s) becomes subject to import quotas shall require

a visa. Products exported during the period January 1, 1999 through

January 31, 1999 shall not be denied entry for lack of an export

visa. All products exported on and after February 1, 1999 must be

accompanied by an appropriate 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 numeric digit for the

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

alpha code specified by the International Organization for

Standardization (ISO) (the code for the Cambodia is ``KH''), and a

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

9KH123456.

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 and the printed name of the issuing

official authorized by the Government of Cambodia.

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

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

the unit(s) of quantity provided for 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. Visaed quantities are rounded to the

closest whole number if the quantity exported exceeds one whole

unit, but is less than the next whole unit. Half units are rounded

up. If the quantity visaed is less than one unit, the shipment is

rounded upwards to one unit. Merged category quota merchandise may

be accompanied by either the appropriate merged category visa or the

correct category visa corresponding to the actual shipment. For

example, quota Category 347/348 may be visaed as ``Category 347/

348'' or if the shipment consists solely of Category 347

merchandise, the shipment may be visaed as ``Category 347'' but not

as ``Category 348.''

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

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

category, quantity or units of quantity are missing, incorrect,

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(s) 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

Government of Cambodia through its Embassy in Washington, DC. The

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

the shipment. It does not waive the quota requirements. Visa waivers

will only be issued for classification purposes or for one-time

special purpose shipments that are not part of an ongoing commercial

enterprise.

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 Cambodia 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. $800 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 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). This

letter will be published in the Federal Register.

Sincerely,

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F

[[Page 70112]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN18DE98.000

Export Visa Stamp for Cambodia

[FR Doc. 98-33504 Filed 12-17-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-C