Newly Quota-/Visa-Free Textiles Ineligible for Paperless Entry; Policy Disallowing RLF due to Textile Declaration Now Uniformly Enforced
According to a U.S. government source, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has not broadened paperless entry procedures to include textiles and apparel that became quota-and visa-free for exports on or after January 1, 2005.
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In addition, the source states that CBP has begun enforcing its policy disallowing Remote Location Filing (RLF) for entry type '01' textiles requiring a textile declaration.
No Change Yet to CBP's Paperless Policy for Textiles
The government source states that there has been no change to CBP's paperless entry policy for textiles and apparel exported on or after January 1, 2005. In other words, only products that were eligible for paperless entry for exports before January 1, 2005, are eligible for paperless entry for exports on or after January 1, 2005.
RLF Disallowed for Textiles Requiring a Textile Declaration
In addition, the government source states that CBP is now uniformly enforcing its existing requirement (that some ports weren't following), that entry type '01' textiles requiring a textile declaration are not eligible for RLF, as the textile declaration is a required paper document, rather than an electronic document that can be transmitted through ACS.
CBP Concerned about Misdeclared Origin for Goods Subject to Staged Entry, China Safeguard Quotas
According to the government source, CBP wants to be able to access the textile declaration, and perhaps other entry documents, in paper form, due to CBP's earlier discovery of numerous entries with misdeclared origin for textile articles subject to China safeguard quotas.
(The source states that for paperless entries filed at the local port, paper documents are available locally for review, while with RLF, the actual documents are simply electronic, and there is no electronic textile declaration (though the source speculated that there may have been a test of one, but the test should have already concluded.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 10/19/04 news, 04101910 for BP summary stating that CBP to pursue gross negligence penalties against importers and brokers if the entry misdeclares the country of origin and the documents clearly identify the textile articles as country of origin China.)
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