This is the final Reasonable Care Checklist: Textile & Apparel Importers
These are additional questions for Textile & Apparel Importers
Section 333 of the Uruguay Round Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 1592a) authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to publish a list of foreign producers, manufacturers, suppliers, sellers, exporters, or other foreign persons found to have violated 19 U.S.C. 1592 by using false, fraudulent or counterfeit documentation, labeling, or prohibited transshipment practices in connection with textiles and apparel products.
Section 1592a also requires any importer of record who enters or otherwise attempts to introduce into United States commerce textile or apparel products that were directly or indirectly produced, manufactured, supplied, sold, exported, or transported by such named person(s) to show, to the Secretary’s satisfaction, that the importer has exercised reasonable care to ensure that the importations are accompanied by accurate documentation, packaging and labeling regarding the products’ origin. Under section 1592a, reliance solely upon information from a person named on the list does not constitute the exercise of reasonable care. Textile and apparel importers who have a commercial relationship with any of the listed parties must exercise reasonable care in ensuring that the documentation covering the imported merchandise, its packaging and its labeling, accurately identify the importation’s country of origin. This demonstration of reasonable care must rely upon more information than that supplied by the named party.
In order to meet the reasonable care standard when importing textile or apparel products and when dealing with a party named on this list, an importer should consider the following questions to ensure that the documentation, packaging and labeling are accurate regarding country-of-origin considerations. This list is illustrative, not exhaustive:
1. Has the importer had a prior relationship with the named party?
2. Has the importer had any seizures or detentions of textile or apparel products that were directly or indirectly produced, supplied, or transported by the named party?
3. Has the importer visited the company’s premises to ascertain that the company actually has the capacity to produce the merchandise?
4. Where a claim of an origin-conferring process is made in accordance with 19 CFR 102.21, has the importer ascertained that the named party actually performed that process?
5. Is the named party really operating from the country that he or she claims on the documentation, packaging or labeling?
6. Have quotas for the imported merchandise closed, or are they near closing, from the main producer countries for this commodity?
7. Does the country have a dubious or questionable history regarding this commodity?
8. Have you questioned your supplier about the product’s origin?
9. If the importation is accompanied by a visa, permit or license, has the importer verified with the supplier or manufacturer that the document is of valid, legitimate origin? Has the importer examined that document for any irregularities that would call its authenticity into question?
-> Reminder for this series: Reasonable care is an explicit responsibility on the part of the importer.
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