Textile Enforcement and Security Act of 2013

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Textile Enforcement and Security Act of 2013”.

Table of contents— The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

In general— In this Act, the term textile or apparel article means any of the following:

HTS defined— In subsection (a), the term HTS means the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

CAFTA–DR country— The term CAFTA–DR country has the meaning given such term in section 3(2) of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States-Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4002(2)).

CEE— The term CEE means the Center of Excellence and Expertise for Apparel, Footwear, and Textiles of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Commissioner— The term Commissioner means the Commissioner responsible for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Dedicated— The term dedicated means, with respect to an import specialist, that such import specialist focuses solely on the import of textile or apparel articles.

Enter; entry— The terms enter and entry refer to the entry, or withdrawal from warehouse for consumption, of a textile or apparel article in the customs territory of the United States.

Importer— The term importer means one of the parties qualifying as an importer of record under section 484(a)(2)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(a)(2)(B)).

New importer— The term new importer means an importer with fewer than 3 years of history of importing textile or apparel articles into the United States. For purposes of this paragraph, a new importer that merges with or is purchased by another importer, or is otherwise altered, shall be considered to remain a new importer until such time as such new importer presents proof to the Commissioner of such merger, purchase, or other alteration for a determination regarding whether such new importer may be treated as an importer.

Nonresident importer— The term nonresident importer means an importer who is—

Special operations— The term special operations means an initiative that is—

TTA— The term TTA means the Textile and Trade Agreements division of the Office of International Trade within U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

TPVTs— The term TPVTs means Textile Product Verification Teams.

Trained— The term trained means, with respect to an import specialist, that such import specialist has received, at least during the last 3 years, education or training related to the import of textile or apparel articles.

The fraudulent or illegal imports of textile and apparel articles into the United States results in significant revenue loss to the Department of the Treasury.

The Textile and Trade Agreements division of the Office of International Trade within U.S. Customs and Border Protection or any subsequent division has, with respect to textile or apparel articles, the primary responsibility to ensure the proper enforcement of all customs and trade laws, rules, and regulations affecting textile and apparel articles.

The TTA has the authority to direct the implementation and enforcement of free trade agreements, multilateral agreements, bilateral textile agreements, trade preference programs, and all other customs and trade laws affecting textiles and apparel articles.

The primary focus of the TTA is to ensure the effective implementation of all trade enforcement activities involving textile or apparel articles with its principle focus to prevent circumvention of the requirements to obtain preferential trade treatment under free trade agreements and trade preference programs in order to avoid quotas or duties.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the TTA should be involved in supporting the negotiation of enforcement provisions of trade preference programs and free trade agreements affecting textiles and apparel articles;

the TTA should conduct outreach to other Federal departments and agencies involved in overall trade policy, such as Department of Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade Representative;

the TTA should develop policies and procedures that provide guidance to the CEE and to the ports of entry of the textile and apparel articles, including training of officials of U.S. Customs and Border Protection;

officials of the TTA should coordinate and collaborate with officials of the CEE to establish enforcement priorities, based on risk assessments, and a national enforcement response;

the TTA headquarters office is currently below its optimal staffing levels and the TTA personnel efforts should be targeted at retaining senior staff and hiring new qualified personnel so that the division is brought up to optimal staffing levels, and these positions should be designated as not only policy positions, but enforcement positions as well;

the TTA should implement special operations, Textile Product Verification Teams, and other actions under U.S. Customs and Border Protection authority to ensure enforcement of customs and trade laws relating to imports of textile or apparel articles in a timely manner as concerns arise, particularly as such concerns relate to enforcement of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, and all other free trade agreements and trade preference programs, in order to prevent transshipments and origin fraud;

the TTA officials should coordinate and collaborate with foreign government counterparts to ensure effective enforcement of textile and apparel articles; and

U.S. Customs and Border Protection should ensure that seizures, detentions, special operations, and TPVTs remain the primary focus of its enforcement efforts relating to textile and apparel articles.