The Department of Commerce’s Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements is temporarily waiving the requirements that hard copies of submissions in commercial availability proceedings be mailed to CITA and that business confidential information be included only in those hard copies. CITA states that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the current remote work directive issued by DOC it is not able to take receipt of mailed hard copy submissions.
The waiver will allow for electronic submissions without original hard copies, including submissions that contain business confidential information through a secure online system. It is applicable for submissions under the CAFTA-DR, Colombia, Peru, and Panama free trade agreements, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act. The waiver will be in effect until CITA determines that normal operations have resumed that allow for receipt of hard copy submissions.
CITA adds that electronic submissions, and the secure online system referenced above, will also be utilized in coordinating with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on requests for rules of origin changes under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement as well as FTAs with Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Korea, Morocco, Oman, and Singapore.
For more information on trade-related issues affecting textiles and apparel, please contact Elise Shibles at (415) 490-1403.
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