Global Sourcing Panel Spotlights Undervaluing of Textile Imports

(California Apparel News – Erin Barajas)

Miscalculating the value of textiles and other imports is a growing problem at the nation’s ports and one that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is increasingly addressing, said Janet Labuda, CBP’s director of textile enforcement and operations division.

Labuda – who oversees the textile and apparel industry, including the enforcement of quota, illegal textiles transshipments, trade agreements for textiles, and operational policy development and implementation – spoke to apparel-industry executives May 11 during a seminar hosted by the California Fashion Association at the law offices of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp in Los Angeles. […]

Labuda said Customs and Border Protection is in the early stages of a “Special Enforcement Initiative” to investigate more than 180 textile importers involved with approximately 400 instances of possible gross undervaluation of apparel and textile goods being imported from China. The initiative, which began in February 2009 and is targeting 60 textile importers at a time, has turned up several instances of undervaluations and illegal activities, Labuda said. Read more here.