Practice Areas
Foreign Textile and Apparel Factory Visits Find Few Violations, CBP Says
[Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Feb. 25 issue of the Advisor, a weekly publication of the STR-TAP service. Click here for more information or to subscribe.]
U.S. Customs and Border Protection routinely sends groups of investigators to various textile and apparel exporting countries to review company records and operations to determine if illegal transshipment or improper shipping under trade preference programs or free trade agreements is occurring. These textile production verification teams were previously referred to as “jump teams.”
CBP has made available the following summary of results of TPVT visits conducted during fiscal year 2015 (Oct. 1, 2014, through Sept. 30, 2015). As is customary, CBP indicates that goods that are claimed to have been made in closed or high-risk factories (unable to provide production records to satisfy CBP of the origin of the merchandise) will be scrutinized and validated by CBP at ports of entry. In addition, shipments from noncompliant factories claiming preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act or the free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, the Dominican Republic or the Central American countries will be verified for eligibility. CBP does not disclose the identities of the firms visited.
Illegal Transshipment Verifications
|
Country Visited and Date |
No. of Factories Visited |
No. of Factories Closed |
No. of Factories w/Evidence of Transshipment |
No. of Factories Refused Admission / Documents |
No. of Factories High Risk |
|
Honduras – 05/15 |
21 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Korea – 06/15 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
El Salvador – 06/15 |
11 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Colombia – 06/15 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
DR – 06/15 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Ethiopia – 08/15 |
13 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Lesotho – 09/15 |
17 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Mauritius – 09/15 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Guatemala – 09/15 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Madagascar – 09/15 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Verifications under FTAs or Preference Programs
Country Visited and Date |
No. of Factories Compliant |
No. of Factories Violating Program |
No. of Factories w/Insufficient Documents to Support Program Claims |
|
Honduras – 05/15 |
13 |
0 |
5 |
|
Korea – 06/15 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
|
El Salvador – 06/15 |
5 |
0 |
6 |
|
Colombia – 06/15 |
8 |
0 |
2 |
|
DR – 06/15 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
Ethiopia – 08/15 |
10 |
0 |
3 |
|
Lesotho – 09/15 |
9 |
0 |
7 |
|
Mauritius – 09/15 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|
Guatemala – 09/15 |
9 |
3 |
2 |
|
Madagascar – 09/15 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
