United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-09-19 monographic deposited born digital 115 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-96-186 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186 P0b002ee180382b8f f:ns96186 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186 NSIAD-96-186 International trade Trade policies Import regulation Restrictive trade practices International agreements Clothing industry International trade restriction Data collection operations International Harmonized Tariff Schedule Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Dept. of Commerce Textile and Apparel Export Program Dept. of Commerce Special Access Program Letter Report NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the U.S. Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements' (CITA) role in administering the U.S. textile program, focusing on: (1) CITA authority, functions, resources, and costs under the Multifiber Arrangement (MFA) and the 1994 Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC); (2) CITA process for imposing quotas; (3) CITA use of data to make quota decisions; (4) CITA use of ATC temporary import quota safeguards in 1995; (5) European Union (EU), Canadian, and Japanese use of quotas under MFA and ATC and their processes for imposing quotas; and (6) the U.S. International Trade Commission's (ITC) safeguard process.<p/>GAO found that: (1) CITA has broad delegated authority to impose quotas when it determines that imports are causing damage to the domestic textile industry; (2) since its main function, to implement textile agreements, has not changed under ATC, CITA does not expect its workload to increase significantly, but it will continue to participate in negotiations for bilateral quota agreements; (3) CITA received about $3.6 million in fiscal year 1995 from five agencies and had a staff of 33 provided by the Department of Commerce to support CITA operations; (4) CITA has not published guidelines or procedures describing its quota decisionmaking process; (5) CITA tries to match import data and domestic production data to establish a causal link between imports and damage to domestic producers on a case-by-case basis before requesting consultations with exporting countries and seeking comments from interested parties; (6) CITA uses U.S. government statistics in its quota decisionmaking process, but some data compatibility problems occur due to varying collection methods; (7) the United States has been the only country to impose quotas under ATC; (8) EU and Canada have imposed quotas under MFA, but Japan has never imposed any quotas; (9) although EU and Canada use similar import data, their decisionmaking processes are different; and (10) the ITC quota decisionmaking process differs significantly from CITA because it is based on U.S. legislation that stipulates specific procedures and time-frames for imposing qu otas and holding public hearings. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186.pdf GAO/NSIAD-96-186 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-186 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-96-186; Textile Trade: Operations of the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements; International trade Trade policies Import regulation Restrictive trade practices International agreements Clothing industry International trade restriction Data collection operations International Harmonized Tariff Schedule Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Dept. of Commerce Textile and Apparel Export Program Dept. of Commerce Special Access Program