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National Council of Textile Organizations
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Cass
Johnson:
202-822-8025
January 14, 2007
Missy Branson:
202-822-8026
For Immediate Release
NCTO
Develops New Tools against Spreading Customs
Fraud
Urges Companies to Report Fraud
Using Online Forms
Washington) NCTO announced today that it
has
begun an online customs fraud reporting system and
has distributed new customs fraud reporting tools
to its member companies and the public at
large.
NCTO is urging
anyone who is aware of customs fraud in textiles
and apparel to utilize the
forms.
The new
tools include a one page form that can be filled
out online and sent electronically to NCTO on a
confidential basis. NCTO will
then forward the information to U.S. Customs and
can, if requested, delete the reporters name. All
information will be held on a business
confidential basis. The new
forms are available at www.ncto.org under
“Report Customs Fraud” or by clicking here.
The
forms were developed in consultation with the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection and are designed to
streamline the reporting process and provide more
detailed information to U.S. Customs and Border
Protection.
The
new effort was undertaken after increasing reports
of fraud being reported by NCTO member companies
in the CAFTA/NAFTA region. Mike
Hubbard, NCTO Vice President, said “Customs fraud
has risen to become the number one issue we get
calls about from our member companies. Our members are
extremely frustrated because they see high levels
of fraud without a corresponding increase in
Customs activity.”
NCTO has been meeting with U.S. Customs regarding
a sharp drop-off in seizure and detentions and in
special operations during a time of increasing
reports of fraud from NCTO member companies. The
drop-off coincided with the textile division was
being moved out of the Operations Division last
year and into a policy branch. Customs
enforcement became a key issue for the industry
during the CAFTA debate after the industry learned
that Customs had not hired new textile enforcement
personnel as mandated by Congress in
2002.
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National Council of Textile Organizations
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