[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5457-5458]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2140]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Customs Service
[ADM-9-03:CO:R:IT:R 912545 FF]


Filing of Contracts and Certifications Covering Textile and 
Apparel Products Under Section 334 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act

AGENCY: U.S. Customs Service, Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: General notice.

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SUMMARY: This document advises the public of the requirements and 
procedures that must be followed in filing contracts and certifications 
with Customs in order to preclude application of new origin principles 
to textile and apparel products entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption during the period of July 1, 1996 through January 1, 
1998, as provided in section 334 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act 
(the Act). If a contract and certification are not filed with Customs 
in accordance with the procedures set forth in this document, such 
textile and apparel products will be subject to the origin principles 
contained in section 334(b) of the Act.

DATES: Contracts and certifications must be filed with Customs on or 
before February 6, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Contracts and certifications must be filed with the 
Director, Office of Trade Operations, Attention: Lisa Crosby, Room 
1325, U.S. Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, 
D.C. 20229.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Crosby, Office of Trade 
Operations (202-927-0163).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On December 8, 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Uruguay 
Round Agreements Act (the Act), Public Law 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809. 
Subtitle D of Title III of the Act deals with textiles and includes 
section 334 which concerns rules of origin for textile and apparel 
products.
    Paragraph (a) of section 334 provides that the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall prescribe rules implementing the principles contained in 
paragraph (b) for determining the origin of textiles and apparel 
products. Paragraph (a) further provides that such rules must be 
promulgated in final form not later than July 1, 1995.
    Paragraph (b) of section 334 incorporates the following provisions: 
(1) General rules for determining when, for purposes of the customs 
laws and the administration of quantitative restrictions, a textile or 
apparel product originates in a country, territory, or insular 
possession, and is the growth, product, or manufacture of that country, 
territory, or insular possession; (2) special origin rules for certain 
identified goods; (3) a multicountry rule for determining origin when 
the origin of a good cannot be determined under the preceding 
provisions of paragraph (b); (4) special rules governing the treatment 
of components which are cut to shape in the United States from foreign 
fabric or are products of the United States and which are exported for 
assembly and returned to the United States; and (5) an exception to the 
application of section 334 in the case of the United States-Israel Free 
Trade Agreement, which specifically provides for the continued 
application of the rulings and administrative practices that were 
applied, immediately before the enactment of the Act, to determine the 
origin of textile and apparel products covered by that Agreement, 
unless such rulings and practices are modified by the mutual consent of 
the United States and Israel.
    Paragraph (c) of section 334 provides that section 334 shall apply 
to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after July 1, 1996. However, paragraph (c) further provides that 
section 334 shall not apply to goods if:
    (1) The contract for the sale of such goods to the United States is 
entered into before July 20, 1994;
    (2) All of the material terms of sale in such contract, including 
the price and quantity of the goods, are fixed and determinable before 
July 20, 1994;
    (3) A copy of the contract is filed with the Commissioner of 
Customs within 60 days after the date of the enactment of the Act, 
together with a certification that the contract meets the requirements 
of paragraphs (1) and (2) above; and
    (4) The goods are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or before January 1, 1998.
    Paragraph (c) was included in section 334 in recognition of the 
fact that application of the origin principles contained in paragraph 
(b) may result in origin determinations that are different from the 
result that would have been reached under prior law and administrative 
practice, thus causing undue hardship to persons who had already 
entered into binding contracts based on existing law and administrative 
practice.
    Since the required rules implementing the principles of paragraph 
(b) of section 334 are currently at the pre-publication stage and thus 
are not available for reference, members of the public must refer to 
the provisions as contained in paragraph (b) of the statute in order to 
assess the need for filing a contract and certification with Customs as 
provided for in paragraph (c). The procedures applicable to the filing 
of such contracts and certifications are set forth below.

Procedures for Filing Contracts and Certifications

    A legible and complete copy of each contract, together with the 
required certification signed by the U.S. party to the contract or 
authorized officer or agent thereof, must be filed with the Director, 
Office of Trade Operations, Attention: Lisa Crosby, Room 1325, U.S. 
Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20229, on or before February 6, 1995. Customs will provide written 
confirmation of each timely filing within five working days of the date 
of receipt of the filed documents. Contracts and certifications 
[[Page 5458]] which are submitted by mail or courier service and which 
are received by Customs after February 6, 1995, will not be considered 
to have been timely filed unless they reflect a postmark or other date 
of transmission of February 6, 1995, or earlier. If a contract and 
certification which otherwise meet the terms of section 334(c) of the 
Act are not filed with Customs in accordance with the procedures set 
forth herein, the textile and apparel products covered by the contract 
will be subject to the origin principles contained in section 334(b) of 
the Act.
    Following review of each contract and certification, Customs will 
determine whether the filed documents meet the requirements of 
paragraph (c) of section 334 and will provide written notice to the 
filing party regarding that determination. A separate notice will be 
published at an appropriate future date regarding the entry or other 
procedures to be followed for the period of July 1, 1996 through 
January 1, 1998, in the case of goods covered by contracts found by 
Customs to meet the requirements of paragraph (c) of section 334.

    Dated: January 24, 1995.
A.W. Tennant,
Acting Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations
[FR Doc. 95-2140 Filed 1-24-95; 4:34 pm]
BILLING CODE 4820-02-P