Establishment of a Merged Category Limit for Certain Man-Made Fiber Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Romania

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Establishment of a Merged Category Limit for Certain Man-Made

Fiber Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Romania

March 22, 1999.

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

ACTION: Issuing a directive to the Commissioner of Customs establishing

a merged category limit.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: March 29, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Naomi Freeman, International Trade

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

Commerce, (202) 482-4212. For information on the quota status of this

limit, refer to the Quota Status Reports posted on the bulletin boards

of each Customs port, call (202) 927-5850, or refer to the U.S. Customs

website at http://www.customs.ustreas.gov. For information on embargoes

and quota re-openings, call (202) 482-3715.

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 Memorandum of Understanding dated March 4, 1999, the

Governments of the United States and Romania agreed to merge Categories

647 and 648 and to establish a new limit for merged Categories 647/648

of 185,931 dozen for the twelve-month period beginning on January 1,

1999 and extending through December 31, 1999. In addition, unused

carryforward that had been applied to the 1998 limit for Category 647

is being recredited. The individual 1999 levels for Categories 647 and

648 are superseded by the above limit.

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

Commissioner of Customs to establish a new limit for merged Categories

647/648 for the twelve-month period beginning on January 1, 1999 and

extending through December 31, 1999.

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

numbers is available in the CORRELATION: Textile and Apparel

[[Page 14706]]

Categories with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

(see Federal Register notice 63 FR 71096, published on December 23,

1998). Also see 63 FR 67051, published on December 4, 1998.

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements

March 22, 1999.

Commissioner of Customs,

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20229.

Dear Commissioner: This directive amends, but does not cancel,

the directive issued to you on November 30, 1998, by the Chairman,

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements. That

directive concerns imports of certain cotton, wool, man-made fiber,

silk blend and other vegetable fiber textiles and textile products,

produced or manufactured in Romania and exported during the twelve-

month period which began on January 1, 1999 and extends through

December 31, 1999.

Effective on March 29, 1999, you are directed to combine the

charges for Categories 647 and 648 and establish a new limit of

185,931 dozen \1\ for merged Categories 647/648 for the twelve-month

period beginning on January 1, 1999 and extending through December

31, 1999, pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding dated March 4,

1999 between the Governments of the United States and Romania.

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\1\ The limit has not been adjusted to account for any import

exported after December 31, 1998.

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Textile products in Categories 647/648 which have been released

from the custody of the U.S. Customs Service under the provisions of

19 U.S.C. 1448(b) or 1484(a)(1) prior to the effective date of this

directive shall not be denied entry under this directive.

Products in Categories 647 and 648 exported during 1998 shall be

charged to the applicable category limits for that year (see

directive dated November 25, 1997) to the extent of any unfilled

balances. In the event the limits established for that period have

been exhausted by previous entries, such products shall be charged

to the limit set forth in this directive for merged Category 647/

648.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has

determined that this action falls within the foreign affairs

exception of 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. 99-7483 Filed 3-25-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F