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. SUT-
TON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. 
KAPTUR, Ms. FOXX, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, and Mr. COBLE) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 
and Means 
A BILL 
To provide the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Cus-
toms 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Textile Enforcement and Security Act of 2011’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
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 doc-
umentation. 
Sec. 202. Electronic preference verification system for origin of textile or ap-
parel 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 arti-
cles. 
TITLE III—ESTABLISHMENT OF TEXTILE AND APPAREL 
MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLIER REGISTRY 
Sec. 301. Establishment of textile and apparel manufacturing and supplier reg-
istry. 
TITLE IV—IMPLEMENTATION REPORT 
Sec. 401. Implementation report. 
SEC. 2. TEXTILE OR APPAREL ARTICLE DEFINED. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘textile or 
apparel article’’ means any of the following: 
(1) Any good classifiable in chapters 50 
through 63 of the HTS. 
(2) Any good classifiable under one of the fol-
lowing HTS headings or subheadings: 
(A) 3005.90; 
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(B) 3921.12.15; 
(C) 3921.13.15; 
(D) 3921.90.25; 
(E) 6601.10 through 6601.99; 
(F) 7019.19.15; 
(G) 7019.19.28; 
(H) 7019.40 through 7019.59; 
(I) 8708.21; 
(J) 9404.30.40; 
(K) 9404.30.80; and 
(L) 9404.90. 
(b) HTS DEFINED.—In subsection (a), the term 
‘‘HTS’’ means the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) 
COMMISSIONER.—The 
term 
‘‘Commis-
sioner’’ means the Commissioner responsible for 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 
(2) ENTER; ENTRY.—The terms ‘‘enter’’ and 
‘‘entry’’ refer to the entry, or withdrawal from ware-
house for consumption, of a textile or apparel article 
in the customs territory of the United States. 
(3) IMPORTER.—The term ‘‘importer’’ means 
one of the parties qualifying as an importer of 
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record under section 484(a)(2)(B) of the Tariff Act 
of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(a)(2)(B)). 
(4) SPECIAL OPERATIONS.—The term ‘‘special 
operations’’ means an initiative that is— 
(A) implemented to address specific in-
stances of transactions that do not comply with 
United States trade laws with respect to textile 
or apparel articles; 
(B) used to address any import violations 
involving textile or apparel articles, including 
fraud, quota requirements, revenue collection, 
trade preferences or requirements under free 
trade agreements, product safety, anti-dumping 
and countervailing duties, or intellectual prop-
erty rights; or 
(C) initiated to address a singular instance 
or a pattern of high-risk behavior, involving a 
particular commodity or other trade issue, in-
cluding valuation, origin fraud, or trade pref-
erence violation, on the part of a country, im-
porter, or manufacturer. 
(5) TAPP.—The term ‘‘TAPP’’ means the Tex-
tile and Apparel Policy and Programs division of the 
Office of International Trade within U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection. 
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(6) TPVTs.—The term ‘‘TPVTs’’ means Tex-
tile Product Verification Teams. 
(7) 
DEDICATED.—The 
term 
‘‘dedicated’’ 
means, with respect to an import specialist, that 
such import specialist who focus solely on the import 
of textile or apparel articles. 
(8) TRAINED.—The term ‘‘trained’’ means, 
with respect to an import specialist, that such im-
port specialist has received, at least every last three 
years, education or training related to the import of 
textile or apparel articles. 
(9) NONRESIDENT IMPORTER.—The term ‘‘non-
resident importer’’ means an importer who is— 
(A) an individual who is not a citizen of 
the United States or an alien lawfully admitted 
for permanent residence in the United States; 
or 
(B) a partnership, corporation, or other 
commercial entity that is not organized under 
the laws of a jurisdiction within the customs 
territory of the United States (as such term is 
defined in General Note 2 of the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States) or in the 
Virgin Islands of the United States. 
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(10) NEW
IMPORTER.—The term ‘‘new im-
porter’’ means an importer with fewer than three 
years of import history into the United States of 
textile or apparel articles. For purposes of this para-
graph, a new importer that merges with or is pur-
chased 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. 
(11) 
CAFTA–DR 
COUNTRY.—The 
term 
‘‘CAFTA–DR country’’ has the meaning given such 
term in section 3(2) of the Dominican Republic-Cen-
tral America-United States-Free Trade Agreement 
Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4002(2); Public Law 
109–53). 
SEC. 4. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) 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. 
(2) The Textile and Apparel Policy and Pro-
grams division of the Office of International Trade 
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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 trade laws, rules, and 
regulations affecting textile and apparel articles. 
(3) The TAPP has the authority to direct the 
implementation and enforcement of free trade agree-
ments, multilateral agreements, bilateral textile 
agreements, trade preference programs, and all 
other trade laws affecting textiles and apparel arti-
cles. 
(4) The primary focus of the TAPP 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 re-
quirements to obtain preferential trade treatment 
under free trade agreements and trade preference 
programs in order to avoid quotas or duties. 
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) U.S. Customs and Border Protection and 
the TAPP should be involved in supporting the ne-
gotiation of enforcement provisions of trade pref-
erence programs and free trade agreements affecting 
textiles and apparel articles; 
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(2) the TAPP 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 Representa-
tive; 
(3) the TAPP should be involved in the develop-
ment of policies and procedures that provide guid-
ance to the port of entry of the textile and apparel 
articles, including training of TAPP officials; 
(4) the TAPP headquarters office is currently 
below its optimal staffing levels and the TAPP per-
sonnel 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 pol-
icy positions, but enforcement positions as well; 
(5) the TAPP should implement special oper-
ations, Textile Product Verification Teams, and 
other actions under U.S. Customs and Border Pro-
tection authority to ensure enforcement of 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 
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