The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has come out in support of the reintroduction of the Textile Enforcement and Security Act (TESA) in the 113th Congress. Congressmen Tom Graves and Mike McIntyre reintroduced the bill in the House of Representatives on November 20. The bill seeks to increase US Customs and Border Protection enforcement activities as well as improve trade facilitation through enhanced targeting, increased resources and greater authority.
Due to the high-risk nature and the prevalence of fraud in textile and apparel imports, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) designated the textile industry as a Priority Trade Issue — yet the industry continues to experience serious fraud, particularly in the CAFTA and NAFTA regions. As the third largest exporter of textile products in the world, the US textile industry depends on strong customs enforcement for its livelihood.
The TESA legislation addresses many of the industry’s key concerns by providing CBP with expanded authority to better target fraudulent textile and apparel goods coming into the US, while also implementing additional tools and resources to increase the agency’s commercial enforcement efforts and reduce the prevalence of fraud that creates an uneven playing field for the US textile industry.
