U.S. and Hong Kong (1997)

NEWS

Department of the Treasury
U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 1997
96-61

Contact: Patricia Coss
(202) 927-7010

Progress on Hong Kong Transshipment Issue

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Customs officials and Hong Kong representatives are continuing aggressive, cooperative efforts to end illegal transshipment of Chinese-made textiles through Hong Kong. In ongoing talks, the two parties have agreed to joint factory observation visits in Hong Kong in September. Commenting on the decision, Acting U.S. Customs Commissioner Sam Banks said: "These discussions have already produced noteworthy results and we are confident that continued dialogue with our counterparts in Hong Kong will be even more productive in our mutual effort to eliminate transshipment."

In recent talks, Hong Kong officials have reitcrated their determination to combat illegal textile transshipment and briefed their U.S. counterparts on initiatives which have been introduced to enhance Hong Kong's export control system.

Given the initiatives introduced by Hong Kong, the two sides agreed that U.S. Customes officers should be invited to Hong Kong for a month-long joint observation visit to factories to give the U.S. side a better understanding of Hong Kong's enhanced control system.

The visits will take place in September, and will be modeled on the arrangements used for the joint factory visits in January 1997. The visits will focus on the following categories:

336		Cotton dresses
342		Cotton skirts
351		Cotton nightwear
352		Cotton underwear
442		Wool skirts
636		Man-made fiber dresses
642		Man-made fiber skirts
652		Man-made fiber underwear
331		Cotton gloves
338/339		Cotton knit skirts & blouses
348		Cotton trousers, women's and girls
350		Cotton dressing gowns

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