Worldwide Customs & Regulatory Updates
August 7, 2006
U.S. Customs Regulations on Textile Imports
We would like to remind you of the enforcement measures taken by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on all textiles and wearing apparel imports. They are as follows:
- All samples must be mutilated or declared as not for resale on the Commercial Invoice before arrival into the U.S. Samples without such description on the Commercial Invoice may be subject to duty and tax.
An example of the sample's description:
'Mutilated sample not for resale - men's 100% cotton woven shirt'
- Shippers must also provide a proper description of the merchandise being shipped. The proper description of the textile article should include the fiber contents, if it is knitted or woven, men's or women's wear.
An example of proper description:
'women's 80% cotton 20% silk knit blouse'
All samples must adhere to the marking or mutilated guidelines in order to qualify for Duty/Quota free entry into the U.S. Do note however, that China and Vietnam's marked or mutilated samples will be subject to duty but exempted from quota/visa requirement.
More details about the Marking or Mutilated guidelines can be found at:-
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/priority_trade/textiles/tbts/tbt2006/tbt_06_022.ctt/tbt_06_022.doc