CBP ratchets enforcement of pocketing fabric rule

CBP ratchets enforcement of pocketing fabric rule U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Wednesday it’s verifying duty-free preference claims under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement’s pocketing fabric rule.
   The rule, which became effective Aug. 15, requires pocketing fabric in many garments be made from yarns and fabric produced in a CAFTA-DR country in order for the completed apparel imported into the United States to receive duty-free treatment.
   The agency said it’s responding to a recent review of CAFTA-DR preference claims. The review found non-compliance for apparel declared as manufactured using certain yarns and/or fabrics commonly referred to as being in “short supply.”
   “With $22 billion in apparel imported last year under trade preference programs, it’s important that CBP has a strong textile enforcement program to verify duty-free claims,” said Dan Baldwin, assistant commissioner for CBP’s Office of International Trade, in a statement.
   In 2007, more than 40 percent of all duties collected by CBP were attributed to textile and apparel imports.
   CBP designates the textile industry as a Priority Trade Issue (PTI): high-risk areas that can cause significant revenue loss, injure the U.S. economy, or threaten the health and safety of the American people. The goal of the textile PTI is to ensure that textile imports fully comply with applicable laws, regulations, quotas, free trade agreement requirements and intellectual property rights, CBP said.
   For more details about the textile PTI, access www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/priority_trade/textiles/. CBP’s “pocket bag fabric” requirements may be viewed at www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/priority_trade/textiles/tbts/tbt2008/tbt_08_014.ctt/tbt_08_014.doc. ' Chris Gillis