U.S. Textile Industry Praises Congress For 2010 Textile Law Enforcement And Safety Act

The textile enforcement and Security Act 2010 (TESA) is the first specific textile customs enforcement legislation in history. It was proposed by Congressman Larry Kissell and other representatives of the United States.

Bill Jasper, President of Unifi, said: "the textile enforcement and security act of 2010 is a life and death law and a much-needed law because of the increasing number of textile and clothing fraud cases in our ports and borders. This will provide the necessary resources for U.S. Customs to enforce the law in an effective way, as well as to help workers enforce the law. "

"Ten years ago, our industry employed more than one million workers in Southeast Asia," said Anderson Warlick, President of Parkdale textile mills. Today, we only employ half a million workers. I can prove with absolute certainty that the illegal entry of yarns and fabrics into the United States through the Central American Free Trade Agreement and other preferential areas has forced our industry to cut at least half of its workforce. Strong and effective implementation of our trade agreements is essential to ensure that the beneficiaries of the agreements have access opportunities provided by free trade agreements. "

The U.S. textile industry is the third largest textile export industry in the world, with exports of more than 13 billion US dollars last year. Export products are exported to partners in free trade agreements (FTA) and preferential schemes. The survival of the U.S. textile industry depends on strong customs enforcement. Over the past decade, American industry has seen a disturbing increase in fraud.

The textile law enforcement and security act of 2010 aims to address these issues, and at the same time, to better crack down on these undesirable practices by providing more resources and expanding power to the U.S. Customs and closing the loopholes available to illegal and fraudulent companies. The bill includes the following provisions:

? establish an electronic verification mechanism for textiles and clothing imports

? allow the Department of Homeland Security to use fines and penalties to help pay for investigations and training

? increase staff and

? develop a non resident importer program to ensure that resident agents are responsible for products imported in their name.

'in this case, the U.S. government needs to really assess our border security and import verification system,' said Carse Johnson, President of the Council of the National Textile Organization (ncto). To better manage the risks of illegal trade through proper assessment and enforcement.

The U.S. Department of customs and border protection currently imposes tariffs of more than $25 billion a year, of which more than 42% come from imports of textiles and clothing. As a result, U.S. Customs will continue to treat textile and clothing issues as a trade priority.

"A lot of hard-working men and women in the U.S. textile and clothing industry have lost their jobs due to unfair trade, such as customs fraud," said Eddie Smith, President of the National Cotton Council (NCC). A strong signal to the U.S. Customs to crack down on U.S. textile industry is still a strong signal to crack down on U.S. textile industry employment. "