I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2754 

To provide the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border 

Protection, and the Department of the Treasury with authority to more 

aggressively enforce trade laws relating to textile and apparel articles, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 1, 2011 

Mr. KISSELL (for himself, Mr. JONES, Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. 

WESTMORELAND, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. MICHAUD, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. 

KAPTUR, Ms. FOXX, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, and Mr. COBLE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 

and Means 

A BILL 

To provide the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of 

the Treasury with authority to more aggressively enforce 

trade laws relating to textile and apparel articles, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Textile Enforcement and Security Act of 2011’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Textile or apparel article defined. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Findings. 

Sec. 5. Sense of Congress. 

TITLE I—ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES FOR U.S. CUSTOMS AND 

BORDER PROTECTION 

Sec. 101. Seizure and forfeiture of certain textile or apparel articles and use 

of amounts from fines, penalties, and forfeitures. 

Sec. 102. Increase in certain TAPP positions and import specialist positions 

and biennial review of staff levels. 

TITLE II—AMENDMENTS TO THE TARIFF ACT OF 1930 

Sec. 201. Special provisions regarding certain violations relating to import documentation. 

Sec. 202. Electronic preference verification system for origin of textile or apparel articles under CAFTA–DR, NAFTA, and other free 

trade agreements. 

Sec. 203. Establishment of textile and apparel new importer program. 

Sec. 204. Nonresident importer declaration program for textile or apparel articles. 

TITLE III—ESTABLISHMENT OF TEXTILE AND APPAREL 

MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLIER REGISTRY 

Sec. 301. Establishment of textile and apparel manufacturing and supplier registry. 

TITLE IV—IMPLEMENTATION REPORT 

Sec. 401. Implementation report. 

3 SEC. 2. TEXTILE OR APPAREL ARTICLE DEFINED. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘textile or 

5 apparel article’’ means any of the following: 

6 (1) Any good classifiable in chapters 50 

7 through 63 of the HTS. 

8 (2) Any good classifiable under one of the fol9 lowing HTS headings or subheadings: 

10 (A) 3005.90; 


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1 (B) 3921.12.15; 

2 (C) 3921.13.15; 

3 (D) 3921.90.25; 

4 (E) 6601.10 through 6601.99; 

5 (F) 7019.19.15; 

6 (G) 7019.19.28; 

7 (H) 7019.40 through 7019.59; 

8 (I) 8708.21; 

9 (J) 9404.30.40; 

10 (K) 9404.30.80; and 

11 (L) 9404.90. 

12 (b) HTS DEFINED.—In subsection (a), the term 

13 ‘‘HTS’’ means the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

14 United States. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis18 sioner’’ means the Commissioner responsible for 

19 U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

20 (2) ENTER; ENTRY.—The terms ‘‘enter’’ and 

21 ‘‘entry’’ refer to the entry, or withdrawal from ware22 house for consumption, of a textile or apparel article 

23 in the customs territory of the United States. 

24 (3) IMPORTER.—The term ‘‘importer’’ means 

25 one of the parties qualifying as an importer of 


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1 record under section 484(a)(2)(B) of the Tariff Act 

2 of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(a)(2)(B)). 

3 (4) SPECIAL OPERATIONS.—The term ‘‘special 

4 operations’’ means an initiative that is— 

5 (A) implemented to address specific in6 stances of transactions that do not comply with 

7 United States trade laws with respect to textile 

8 or apparel articles; 

9 (B) used to address any import violations 

10 involving textile or apparel articles, including 

11 fraud, quota requirements, revenue collection, 

12 trade preferences or requirements under free 

13 trade agreements, product safety, anti-dumping 

14 and countervailing duties, or intellectual prop15 erty rights; or 

16 (C) initiated to address a singular instance 

17 or a pattern of high-risk behavior, involving a 

18 particular commodity or other trade issue, in19 cluding valuation, origin fraud, or trade pref20 erence violation, on the part of a country, im21 porter, or manufacturer. 

22 (5) TAPP.—The term ‘‘TAPP’’ means the Tex23 tile and Apparel Policy and Programs division of the 

24 Office of International Trade within U.S. Customs 

25 and Border Protection. 


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1 (6) TPVTs.—The term ‘‘TPVTs’’ means Tex2 tile Product Verification Teams. 

3 (7) DEDICATED.—The term ‘‘dedicated’’ 

4 means, with respect to an import specialist, that 

5 such import specialist who focus solely on the import 

6 of textile or apparel articles. 

7 (8) TRAINED.—The term ‘‘trained’’ means, 

8 with respect to an import specialist, that such im9 port specialist has received, at least every last three 

10 years, education or training related to the import of 

11 textile or apparel articles. 

12 (9) NONRESIDENT IMPORTER.—The term ‘‘non13 resident importer’’ means an importer who is— 

14 (A) an individual who is not a citizen of 

15 the United States or an alien lawfully admitted 

16 for permanent residence in the United States; 

17 or 

18 (B) a partnership, corporation, or other 

19 commercial entity that is not organized under 

20 the laws of a jurisdiction within the customs 

21 territory of the United States (as such term is 

22 defined in General Note 2 of the Harmonized 

23 Tariff Schedule of the United States) or in the 

24 Virgin Islands of the United States. 


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1 (10) NEW IMPORTER.—The term ‘‘new im2 porter’’ means an importer with fewer than three 

3 years of import history into the United States of 

4 textile or apparel articles. For purposes of this para5 graph, a new importer that merges with or is pur6 chased by another importer, or is otherwise altered, 

7 shall be considered to remain a new importer until 

8 such time as such new importer presents proof to 

9 the Commissioner of such merger, purchase, or other 

10 alteration for a determination regarding whether 

11 such new importer may be treated as an importer. 

12 (11) CAFTA–DR COUNTRY.—The term 

13 ‘‘CAFTA–DR country’’ has the meaning given such 

14 term in section 3(2) of the Dominican Republic-Cen15 tral America-United States-Free Trade Agreement 

16 Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4002(2); Public Law 

17 109–53). 

18 SEC. 4. FINDINGS. 

19 Congress finds the following: 

20 (1) The fraudulent or illegal imports of textile 

21 and apparel articles into the United States results in 

22 significant revenue loss to the Department of the 

23 Treasury. 

24 (2) The Textile and Apparel Policy and Pro25 grams division of the Office of International Trade 


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1 within U.S. Customs and Border Protection or any 

2 subsequent division has, with respect to textile or 

3 apparel articles, the primary responsibility to ensure 

4 the proper enforcement of all trade laws, rules, and 

5 regulations affecting textile and apparel articles. 

6 (3) The TAPP has the authority to direct the 

7 implementation and enforcement of free trade agree8 ments, multilateral agreements, bilateral textile 

9 agreements, trade preference programs, and all 

10 other trade laws affecting textiles and apparel arti11 cles. 

12 (4) The primary focus of the TAPP is to ensure 

13 the effective implementation of all trade enforcement 

14 activities involving textile or apparel articles with its 

15 principle focus to prevent circumvention of the re16 quirements to obtain preferential trade treatment 

17 under free trade agreements and trade preference 

18 programs in order to avoid quotas or duties. 

19 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

20 It is the sense of Congress that— 

21 (1) U.S. Customs and Border Protection and 

22 the TAPP should be involved in supporting the ne23 gotiation of enforcement provisions of trade pref24 erence programs and free trade agreements affecting 

25 textiles and apparel articles; 


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1 (2) the TAPP should conduct outreach to other 

2 Federal departments and agencies involved in overall 

3 trade policy, such as Department of Commerce and 

4 the Office of the United States Trade Representa5 tive; 

6 (3) the TAPP should be involved in the develop7 ment of policies and procedures that provide guid8 ance to the port of entry of the textile and apparel 

9 articles, including training of TAPP officials; 

10 (4) the TAPP headquarters office is currently 

11 below its optimal staffing levels and the TAPP per12 sonnel efforts should be targeted at retaining senior 

13 staff and hiring new qualified personnel so that the 

14 division is brought up to optimal staffing levels, and 

15 these positions should be designated as not only pol16 icy positions, but enforcement positions as well; 

17 (5) the TAPP should implement special oper18 ations, Textile Product Verification Teams, and 

19 other actions under U.S. Customs and Border Pro20 tection authority to ensure enforcement of trade 

21 laws relating to imports of textile or apparel articles 

22 in a timely manner as concerns arise, particularly as 

23 such concerns relate to enforcement of the North 

24 American Free Trade Agreement, the Dominican 

25 Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade 


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1 Agreement, and all other free trade agreements and 

2 trade preference programs, in order to prevent 

3 transshipments and origin fraud; 

4 (6) the TAPP officials should coordinate and 

5 collaborate with foreign government counterparts to 

6 ensure effective enforcement of textile and apparel 

7 articles; and 

8 (7) U.S. Customs and Border Protection should 

9 ensure that seizures, detentions, special operations, 

10 and TPVTs remain the primary focus of its enforce11 ment efforts relating to textile and apparel articles. 

12 TITLE I—ADDITIONAL AUTHORI13 TIES FOR U.S. CUSTOMS AND 

14 BORDER PROTECTION 

15 SEC. 101. SEIZURE AND FORFEITURE OF CERTAIN TEXTILE 

16 OR APPAREL ARTICLES AND USE OF 

17 AMOUNTS FROM FINES, PENALTIES, AND 

18 FORFEITURES. 

19 (a) SEIZURE AND FORFEITURE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The following penalties shall 

21 apply with respect to an importation of a textile or 

22 apparel article: 

23 (A) In the case of importation for which a 

24 trade preference has been claimed and with re25 spect to which the textile or apparel article has 


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1 been either misdescribed on entry as to country 

2 of origin or for which the importer does not 

3 verify actual country of origin, for purposes of 

4 avoiding a duty or other obligation to the 

5 United States Government, including any mer6 chandise accompanied by documentation which 

7 indicates a false or fraudulent country of origin 

8 or source of textile or apparel articles, and any 

9 merchandise accompanied by a counterfeit visa, 

10 license, permit, bill of lading, or similar docu11 mentation that is subsequently used by the im12 porter for entry of textile or apparel articles, 

13 the textile or apparel article shall be subject to 

14 seizure and forfeiture in accordance with 

15 United States trade laws and title 18, United 

16 States Code. 

17 (B) In the case of importation by an im18 porter who provides false information with re19 spect to the physical address of the importer or 

20 who does not meet the requirements of section 

21 484(a)(2)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

22 U.S.C. 1484 (a)(2)(B)), the textile or apparel 

23 article shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture 

24 in accordance with United States trade laws 

25 and title 18, United States Code. 


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1 (2) EXCEPTION.—A clerical error shall not be 

2 considered a violation of paragraph (1) unless such 

3 error is part of a pattern of negligent conduct. 

4 (b) USE OF AMOUNTS FROM FINES, PENALTIES, 

5 AND FORFEITURES.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

7 provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Secu8 rity, the Commissioner, or the Secretary of the 

9 Treasury— 

10 (A) shall use amounts from fines, pen11 alties, and forfeitures of property for violations 

12 of any law regarding the import of textile or ap13 parel articles enforced by the Secretary of 

14 Homeland Security or the Secretary of the 

15 Treasury to pay for— 

16 (i) expenses directly related to inves17 tigations of, and civil or criminal enforce18 ment proceedings on, violations of any law 

19 regarding the import of textile or apparel 

20 articles, including any necessary expenses 

21 for equipment, training, travel, witnesses, 

22 and contracting services directly related to 

23 such investigations or proceedings; and 

24 (ii) expenses related to training and 

25 education for applicable revenue positions, 


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1 including import specialists, international 

2 trade specialists, and auditors who partici3 pate in the enforcement of the export or 

4 import of textile or apparel articles 

5 through United States trade laws; and 

6 (B) may use amounts from fines, penalties, 

7 and forfeitures of property for violations of any 

8 law regarding the import of textile or apparel 

9 articles enforced by the Secretary of Homeland 

10 Security, the Commissioner, or the Secretary of 

11 the Treasury to pay for a reward of not less 

12 than 20 percent of the amount of the fine, pen13 alty, or forfeiture of property collected or 

14 $20,000, whichever is the lesser amount, to any 

15 person who furnishes information that leads to 

16 an arrest, conviction, civil penalty assessment, 

17 or forfeiture of property for any violation of any 

18 law regarding the import of textile or apparel 

19 articles enforced by the Secretary of Homeland 

20 Security, the Commissioner, or the Secretary of 

21 the Treasury. 

22 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Amounts col23 lected from fines, penalties, and forfeitures of prop24 erty for violations of any law regarding the import 

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1 retary of Homeland Security, the Commissioner, or 

2 the Secretary of the Treasury to pay for expenses 

3 described in paragraph (1)(A) or a reward described 

4 in paragraph (1)(B) are in addition to amounts oth5 erwise available for such purposes. 

6 SEC. 102. INCREASE IN CERTAIN TAPP POSITIONS AND IM7 PORT SPECIALIST POSITIONS AND BIENNIAL 

8 REVIEW OF STAFF LEVELS. 

9 (a) INCREASE IN CERTAIN TAPP POSITIONS.—Not 

10 later than 180 days of the date of the enactment of this 

11 Act, the Commissioner shall ensure that— 

12 (1) the Textile Operations Branch (or any suc13 cessor or related Branch) of the TAPP shall consist 

14 of, at a minimum, one Branch Chief and six Oper15 ations Staff, of whom three Operations Staff shall 

16 be assigned to one of the CAFTA–DR countries for 

17 purposes of assisting U.S. Customs and Border Pro18 tection with verification of textile and apparel pref19 erences claimed under the Dominican Republic-Cen20 tral America-United States Free Trade Agreement; 

21 (2) the Textile/Apparel Policy & Programs Divi22 sion (or any successor or related Branch) of the 

23 TAPP shall consist of, at a minimum, one Branch 

24 Chief and three Operations Staff and two textile 

25 trade analysts; and 


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1 (3) the Quota Branch (or any successor or re2 lated Branch) of the TAPP shall consist of, at a 

3 minimum, one Branch Chief and four Operations 

4 Staff. 

5 (b) INCREASE IN TEXTILE AND APPAREL TRAINED

6 IMPORT SPECIALISTS.—As soon as practicable after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner shall 

8 certify, with respect to the 15 largest (by value of entries) 

9 United States ports of entry for textile or apparel articles, 

10 that Import Specialists who are assigned to such ports of 

11 entry are trained in fraud, trade preference verification, 

12 undervaluation, or other issues relating to imports of tex13 tile or apparel articles so that the number of such trained 

14 Import Specialist positions is not less than 150 percent 

15 of the number of trained Import Specialist positions in 

16 existence as of the date of the enactment of this Act. 

17 (c) INCREASE IN DEDICATED TEXTILE AND AP18 PAREL IMPORT SPECIALISTS.—As soon as practicable 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis20 sioner shall increase dedicated textile and import special21 ists by 25 percent at the 15 largest (by value of entries) 

22 United States ports of entry for textile or apparel articles 

23 over the number of such specialists in existence as of the 

24 date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (d) BIENNIAL REVIEW OF STAFF LEVELS.—Not 

2 later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 

3 Act and every two years thereafter, the Commissioner 

4 shall submit to the Committee on Ways and Means and 

5 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 

6 Representatives, the Committee on Finance and the Com7 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

8 of the Senate, and the co-chairs of the Congressional Tex9 tile Caucus a report on the staffing levels specified in this 

10 section, including a determination of whether or not there 

11 is need for additional staff to carry out the duties of the 

12 TAPP. 

13 TITLE II—AMENDMENTS TO THE 

14 TARIFF ACT OF 1930 

15 SEC. 201. SPECIAL PROVISIONS REGARDING CERTAIN VIO16 LATIONS RELATING TO IMPORT DOCUMENTA17 TION. 

18 (a) PUBLICATION OF NAMES OF CERTAIN VIOLA19 TORS.—Section 592A(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

20 U.S.C. 1592a(a)(1)) is amended— 

21 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

22 by striking ‘‘is authorized to’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’; 

23 and 

24 (2) in subparagraph (A), by inserting before the 

25 comma at the end the following: ‘‘, including for vioVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:37 Aug 03, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2754.IH H2754

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1 lations of quotas, duties, or trade preference pro2 grams’’. 

3 (b) LIST OF HIGH-RISK COUNTRIES.—Section 

4 592A(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (1592(a)(b)(1)) is 

5 amended, in the first sentence— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘is authorized to’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘shall’’; and 

8 (2) by inserting ‘‘or duties or violate trade pref9 erence programs’’ after ‘‘quotas’’. 

10 SEC. 202. ELECTRONIC PREFERENCE VERIFICATION SYS11 TEM FOR ORIGIN OF TEXTILE OR APPAREL 

12 ARTICLES UNDER CAFTA–DR, NAFTA, AND 

13 OTHER FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

15 the date of the enactment of this Act, the President, act16 ing through the Commissioner and in coordination with 

17 the head of the Office of Textiles and Apparel of the De18 partment of Commerce, shall establish an electronic 

19 verification system for tracking textile or apparel articles 

20 imported or exported under the Dominican Republic-Cen21 tral America-United States Free Trade Agreement, the 

22 North American Free Trade Agreement, or any other free 

23 trade agreement to which the United States is a party, 

24 to ensure compliance with the respective requirements of 

25 such agreements. 


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1 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President shall seek to 

2 enter into consultations and agreements, as appropriate, 

3 with the government of each foreign country that is a 

4 party to an agreement referred to in subsection (a) for 

5 purposes of implementing the electronic verification sys6 tem established under such subsection. 

7 (c) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The electronic verification 

8 system established under subsection (a) shall ensure that 

9 proprietary information, such as information about supply 

10 chain participants, are coded so that only U.S. Customs 

11 and Border Protection and Office of Textiles and Apparel 

12 personnel can access such information. 

13 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con14 gress that the President should seek to make the integra15 tion of the electronic verification system established under 

16 subsection (a) in future free trade agreements a priority 

17 in negotiations for such agreements. 

18 SEC. 203. ESTABLISHMENT OF TEXTILE AND APPAREL NEW 

19 IMPORTER PROGRAM. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner shall 

22 establish a new importer program that directs U.S. Cus23 toms and Border Protection to adjust bond amounts for 

24 new importers of textile and apparel goods based on the 


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1 level of risk assessed by U.S. Customs and Border Protec2 tion for protection of revenue of the Federal Government. 

3 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Commissioner shall en4 sure that, as part of the new importer program established 

5 under subsection (a), U.S. Customs and Border Protec6 tion— 

7 (1) develops risk assessment guidelines for new 

8 importers of textile and apparel imports; 

9 (2) adjusts bond amounts for new importers in 

10 accordance with the risk assessment guidelines de11 veloped under paragraph (1); 

12 (3) maintains a centralized database of new im13 porters; and 

14 (4) ensures accuracy of required information 

15 provided to U.S. Customs and Border Protection by 

16 new importers. 

17 (c) BONDING AUTHORITY.—Section 623(b) of the 

18 Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1623(b)) is amended by 

19 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(5) In the case of importation of textile or ap21 parel articles, by regulation or specific instruction 

22 require, or authorize U.S. Customs and Border Pro23 tection officers to require, the amount of the bond 

24 to include amounts equal to any duties, fees, or pen25 alties estimated to be payable on such articles. For 


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1 purposes of this paragraph, amounts equal to any 

2 penalties estimated to be payable on such articles 

3 shall be based on a risk assessment of the new im4 porter carried out in accordance with section 203 of 

5 the Textile Security and Enforcement Act of 2011. 

6 Any person who violates this paragraph shall be lia7 ble for a civil penalty of $50,000 for each such viola8 tion.’’. 

9 (d) OTHER PENALTIES.—In addition to the penalties 

10 specified in paragraph (5) of section 623(b) of the Tariff 

11 Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1623(b)), as added by subsection 

12 (c) of this section, for a violation of such paragraph, any 

13 person who violates any other customs law of the United 

14 States with respect to the importation of textile or apparel 

15 articles shall be subject to any applicable civil or criminal 

16 penalty, including seizure and forfeiture that may be im17 posed under such customs law, including section 592 of 

18 the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1592). 

19 SEC. 204. NONRESIDENT IMPORTER DECLARATION PRO20 GRAM FOR TEXTILE OR APPAREL ARTICLES. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 

22 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

23 Commissioner shall establish and maintain a nonresident 

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1 quire nonresident importers of textile or apparel articles 

2 to provide the information required under subsection (b) 

3 and declare the information required under subsection (c), 

4 and require that such information accompany the entry 

5 summary documentation for such textile or apparel arti6 cles. 

7 (b) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The Commissioner 

8 shall require the following information to be submitted by 

9 any nonresident importer seeking to import textile or ap10 parel articles: 

11 (1) An identification of a resident agent in the 

12 State in which the port of entry is located who is au13 thorized to accept service of process against the non14 resident importer in connection with the importation 

15 of the textile or apparel articles. 

16 (2) A certification that the resident agent de17 scribed in paragraph (1) has assets in the United 

18 States in sufficient amounts for the purpose of en19 suring the payment of any additional loss of revenue 

20 not covered by any surety bond or for any civil pen21 alties levied by the Federal Government in connec22 tion with the importation of the textile or apparel 

23 articles. 

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1 cles, including the name, address, and contact infor2 mation for each person in the transaction, such as 

3 the trading house, the freight forwarder, and the ul4 timate purchaser of the goods. 

5 (c) DECLARATIONS REQUIRED.—Pursuant to proce6 dures prescribed by the Commissioner, any nonresident 

7 importer seeking to import textile or apparel articles shall 

8 declare the following: 

9 (1) The nonresident importer has secured a 

10 bond in connection with the importation of the tex11 tile or apparel articles as required by paragraph (5) 

12 of section 623(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

13 U.S.C. 1623(b)) (as added by section 203(c) of this 

14 Act). 

15 (2) The nonresident importer has established a 

16 power of attorney in connection with the importation 

17 of the textile or apparel articles. 

18 (d) AUTHORITY.—A resident agent under this section 

19 shall accept service of process on behalf of the nonresident 

20 importer of such agent for the purpose of duties, penalties, 

21 or other fines issued by the Secretary of Homeland Secu22 rity or the Commissioner if the Secretary or the Commis23 sioner is unable to collect duties, penalties, or other fines 

24 from such nonresident importer. 

25 (e) PENALTIES.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

2 person to import into the United States any textile 

3 or apparel article in violation of this section. 

4 (2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Any person who vio5 lates paragraph (1) shall be liable for a civil penalty 

6 of $50,000 for each such violation. 

7 (3) OTHER PENALTIES.—In addition to the 

8 penalties specified in paragraph (2), any violation of 

9 this section that violates any other customs or trade 

10 law of the United States shall be subject to any ap11 plicable civil and criminal penalty, including seizure 

12 and forfeiture, that may be imposed under such cus13 toms or trade law or title 18, United States Code, 

14 with respect to the importation of textile or apparel 

15 articles. 

16 TITLE III—ESTABLISHMENT OF 

17 TEXTILE AND APPAREL MAN18 UFACTURING AND SUPPLIER 

19 REGISTRY 

20 SEC. 301. ESTABLISHMENT OF TEXTILE AND APPAREL MAN21 UFACTURING AND SUPPLIER REGISTRY. 

22 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

23 of this Act, the President, acting through the Commis24 sioner and in coordination with the head of the Office of 

25 Textiles and Apparel of the Department of Commerce, 


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1 shall establish an electronic Textile and Apparel Manufac2 turing Supplier Registry pilot program to serve as a cen3 tralized database of United States producers and manu4 facturers of thread, yarn, fabric, and apparel that supply 

5 products to companies in the United States, countries that 

6 are parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement, 

7 the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and other 

8 free trade or preference regions in the Western Hemi9 sphere. 

10 TITLE IV—IMPLEMENTATION 

11 REPORT 

12 SEC. 401. IMPLEMENTATION REPORT. 

13 Not later than one year after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, the Commissioner shall submit to the 

15 Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on 

16 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, the 

17 Committee on Finance and the Committee on Homeland 

18 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the 

19 co-chairs of the Congressional Textile Caucus a report on 

20 the implementation of this Act. 

Æ 


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