Establishment of an Export Visa Arrangement for Certain Wool Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Ukraine

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Establishment of an Export Visa Arrangement for Certain Wool

Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Ukraine

February 22, 1999.

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: April 1, 1999.

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: 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 the Visa Arrangement signed on July 22, 1998, the

Governments of the United States and Ukraine agreed to establish visa

requirements for certain wool textile products in Categories 435, 442,

444 and 448, produced or manufactured in Ukraine and exported from

Ukraine on or after April 1, 1999. Products exported during the period

April 1, 1999 through April 30, 1999 shall not be denied entry for lack

of a visa. All products exported on or after May 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 63 FR 71096, published on December 23, 1998).

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for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, will meet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

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

of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., room 3104, Washington,

DC.

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements

February 22, 1999.

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 Visa Arrangement dated July 22,

1998, between the Governments of the United States and Ukraine, you

are directed to prohibit, effective on April 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 wool

textile products in Categories 435, 442, 444 and 448, produced or

manufactured in Ukraine and exported from Ukraine on or after April

1, 1999 for which the Government of Ukraine has not issued an

appropriate export visa fully described below. Should additional

categories, merged categories or part categories be added to the

bilateral agreement or become subject to import quotas, the entire

category or categories shall be automatically included in the

coverage of the visa arrangement. Merchandise in the category(s)

exported on or after the date the category(s) is added to the

agreement or becomes subject to import quotas shall require a visa.

Products exported during the period April 1, 1999 through April 30,

1999 shall not be denied entry for lack of an export visa. All

products exported on or after May 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 will 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 Ukraine is ``UA''), and a

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

9UA123456.

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 Ukraine.

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

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

the unit(s) of quantity provided for in the U.S. Department of

Commerce Correlation and in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) of

the United States, shall be reported in the spaces provided within

the visa stamp (e.g., ``Cat. 434--210 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. For

example, quota Category 347/348 may be visaed as ``cat. 347/348'' or

if the shipment consists solely of Category 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 ``cat. 340'' visa for

the shipment if it includes Category 340.

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 signer, 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.

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 Ukraine. The waiver, if used, only waives the

requirement to present a visa at entry. 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 a shipment from Ukraine 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 visa 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 a visa

for entry and shall not be charged to agreement levels.

[[Page 9478]]

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. 99-4859 Filed 2-25-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F