Establishment of a New Export Visa Arrangement for Certain Cotton, Wool, Man-Made Fiber, Silk Blend and Other Vegetable Fiber Textiles and Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Establishment of a New Export Visa Arrangement for Certain

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

Textiles and Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in the Former

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

April 2, 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: May 1, 1998.

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.

The Governments of the United States and the Former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia 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, produced or manufactured

in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and exported from the

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on and after May 1, 1998.

Products exported during the period May 1, 1998 through May 31, 1998

shall not be denied entry for lack of a visa. All products exported

after May 31, 1998 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 the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

and exported from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for which

the Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 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 62 FR 66057, published on December 17, 1997).

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

April 2, 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 Bilateral Textile Agreement of

November 7, 1997, between the Governments of the United States and

the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, you are directed to

prohibit, effective on May 1, 1998, entry into

[[Page 17157]]

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 the Former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia and exported from the Former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia on and after May 1, 1998 for which the Government of

the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 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) is added to the agreement or becomes subject to import

quotas shall require a visa. Products exported during the period May

1, 1998 through May 31, 1998 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 numeric 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 the Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia is ``MK''), and a six digit numerical serial number

identifying the shipment; e.g., 8MK123456.

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 the Former

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

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 347/348 may be visaed as 347/348 or if the

shipment consists solely of 347 merchandise, the shipment may be

visaed as ``Cat. 347,'' but not as ``Cat. 348''). If, however, a

merged quota category such as 340/640 has a quota sublimit on

Category 340, then there must be a ``Category 340'' visa for the

shipment if it includes Category 340 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 the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Washington,

DC, for the Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

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 the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

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 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.

[FR Doc. 98-9122 Filed 4-7-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE CODE 3510-DR-F