CBP's Instructions on Elimination of Textile Declaration and New Requirement for Origin-Conferring MID
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a notice on two aspects of a CBP interim rule which, effective October 5, 2005, amended 19 CFR Parts 12, 102, 141, 144, 146 and 163 in order to update, restructure, and consolidate the regulations relating to the country of origin of textile and apparel products. (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/06/05 news, 05100605, for BP summary.)
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Textile declaration eliminated for all countries. As part of this interim rule, CBP states the effective October 5, 2005, the textile declaration requirement, formerly found at 19 CFR 12.130(f), for all importations of textiles and apparel products is eliminated.
CBP states that this change applies to all products and countries, including products subject to China Safeguards and non-WTO countries still subject to bilateral textile agreements (i.e. Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and Vietnam).
Origin-conferring manufacturer must be used for MID. Also effective October 5, 2005, CBP states that pursuant to new 19 CFR 102.23, all entries of textile and apparel products listed in 19 CFR 102.21(b)(5) are required to identify the actual manufacturer of such products through a manufacturer identification code (MID).
The MID must be constructed from the name and address of the entity performing the origin-conferring operations pursuant to 19 CFR 102.21 or 19 CFR 102.22, as applicable.
In addition, CBP states that importers and brokers must use reasonable care to accurately construct the MID using the methodology set forth in CBP's regulations (in a new appendix to 19 CFR 102 added by the interim rule).
Importantly, CBP states that when a single entry is filed for products of more than one manufacturer, the products of each manufacturer must be separately identified.
(CBP sources explain that this means, for example, that if an importer or broker is preparing a single entry for imported apparel merchandise from one trader, that consists of (either the same or different) apparel products from five different origin-conferring manufacturers, the broker or importer filing the entry must construct an MID for each of the five origin-conferring manufacturers.
Sources add that the trader may need to be contacted in order to obtain the information necessary to construct these MIDs.)
Regarding the MID, CBP states that the first two digits of the MID must be the same as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code for the country of origin of the products.
Trading companies, sellers other than manufacturers, etc. cannot be used to create MIDs. Entries and entry summaries in which the first two characters of the MID do not meet the country of origin ISO code, or that are created from a company that is known to be a trading house or agent and not a manufacturer, will be rejected for failure to properly construct an MID.
CBP adds that if a port has suspicions that a declared MID is not a manufacturer, the port should pursue the correct information post entry.
Repetitive errors in the construction of MIDs for entries of textile or apparel products will result in the assessment of broker and importer penalties for failure to exercise reasonable care.
CBP contact - Jacqueline Sprungle (202) 344-2277
CBP TBT-05-027 (posted 10/06/05) available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/tbts/TBT2005/tbt_05_027.ctt/tbt_05_027.doc