The DirectorDirector-General of Trade and Industry of Hong Kong, Ms Charmaine LO has issued the following Commercial Information Circular No. 359/2005 on its website.

US : Announcement of China-specific Textiles Safeguards Decision :

(a) Category 349/649 (cotton and man-made fibre brassieres)
(b) Category 620 (Other synthetic filament)

Further to Commercial Information Circular (CIC) No. 291/2005 dated 2 August 2005, the US Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has decided to invoke safeguard actions on imports of Chinese-origin cotton and man-made fibre (mmf) brassieres and other body supporting garments (Category 349/649) and other synthetic filament fabric (Category 620).

An advance copy of the relevant Federal Register (FR) notice is at Annex B (pdf format).

According to the FR notice, the US Government requested consultations with the Mainland Government with respect to the above two categories of products on 31 August 2005 as it had determined that imports of Chinese-origin products in Categories 349/649 and 620 are, due to the existence of market disruption and the threat of market disruption, threatening to impede the orderly development of trade in these textile products.

As such, import quota limits were established from 31 August 2005 and will extend through 31 December 2005 at levels as follows:

Category 349/649: 7,275,216 dozen
Category 620: 12,328,306 square metres

Products which have been exported to the US prior to 31 August 2005 will not be subject to the above limits.

Separately, CITA has also announced that it had extended until 1 October 2005, the period for making a determination on four other safeguard petition cases which involve the following products:

(a) cotton and mmf sweaters (Category 345/645/646);
(b) cotton and mmf dressing gowns and robes (Category 350/650);
(c) men''s and boys'' wool trousers (Category 447); and
(d) knit fabric (Category 222).

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issues a regular report that reflects the total quantities entered into the US and the percentage of the quota filled. The report is available in CBP''s website at http://www.cbp.gov/quotas/files/cntxtrpt.htm. Traders may wish to refer to this website for the latest quota utilization information.

Tables summarizing the most updated positions of all the China-specific textiles safeguard cases initiated or remain in force in 2005 are at Annex A (pdf format) for traders'' reference.

For enquiries about the content of this circular, please contact Miss S Y Tang at telephone number 2398 5405.
 
Office of the Director-General of Trade and Industry