U.S. NCTO Welcomes Re-Introduction of Textile Enforcement Bill

The chairman of the NCTO, Cass Johnson, said in the Parliament that he welcomes the reintroduction of the Textiles Implementation and Security Act (TESA) Bill.

The purpose of the TESA Bill is to enhance the law enforcement activities of the US Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) and to promote trade through better positioning, enhanced resources and better authority.

Mr. Johnson thanked the members of the National Assembly who participated in this important issue.

He said that the sound implementation of trade laws is essential for creating and maintaining employment opportunities in rural areas and small towns. The NCTO members are scattered in rural areas and small towns.

He further stated that in the past decade or so, U.S. industries and workers have seen a surge of customs fraud cases, and deceptive producers and importers have exploited loopholes in the rules and regulations of U.S. law enforcement rules.

During this period, U.S. Customs significantly reduced the intensity of cracking down on textile fraud.

Deceptive practices include: illegal import or export, evasion of customs duties, false claims of free trade agreement preferences, customs declarations below the actual value of goods, false legal or ghost companies established to conceal secret or illegal activities, claiming to be US manufacturing companies .

The NCTO president exclaimed that this practice not only caused the loss of employment opportunities at the doorstep of the United States, but even defrauded the national government of one billion U.S. dollars in taxes and fines each year.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bureau (CBP) has a tax revenue of more than 30 billion U.S. dollars a year and is the second largest source of revenue for the US Treasury. About 40% of the tax revenue, or more than US$ 12 billion, is derived from textile imports.

The TESA Bill proposes to answer a number of key questions that allow US Customs to have greater authority to deal with these goods in a better way. The bill calls for increasing the commercial and law enforcement efforts of CBP and reducing the frequency of dereliction of duty because dereliction of duty damages the American textile industry.

According to the provisions of the bill, the number of trained textile and garment inspection import experts in the 15 major ports in the United States has been increased.

Legislation will authorize the government to expose the names of companies that deliberately violate the terms of trade agreements.

This will authorize the Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to use the collected fines and penalties to pay investigation or training fees.

The bill proposes that the U.S. government implement an electronic verification procedure to track the imports of yarns and fabrics from free trade agreements countries.

In addition, the Bill proposes to establish a textile and clothing importer scheme, a non-resident importer scheme, and a textile and garment manufacturer and supplier registration scheme.