| 24-hour hotline : 23 922 922
e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk
Ref : CR EIC 230/5/19/3
15 December 2004
Dear Sirs,
Commercial Information Circular No. 331/2004
Notice to Exporters: Series 2 (EU) No. 38/2004
Export of Textiles to the European Union (EU) :
Regulations Abolishing Textiles Quotas on 1 January 2005
Further to Commercial Information Circular No. 269/2004 cum Notice to Exporters Series 2 (EU) No. 29/2004 of 2 November 2004, the European Commission has published notices on its website to inform traders of the amendments to the relevant European Council regulations to abolish quotas applied to the import of textiles and clothing products originating in WTO member countries and territories from 1 January 2005, as well as the system of surveillance for textiles and clothing imports after end 2004.
- According to the notices, the following provisions on the import of textiles and clothing products into the EU in regard to WTO member countries and territories will be introduced:
- to establish a transitional period until 31 March 2005 where controls on imports will continue to be applied for restrained goods shipped before 1 January 2005. In other words, for restrained textiles shipped before 1 January 2005 and entering the EU before 1 April 2005, importers must still apply for an import licence supported by a valid export licence, and the goods will be debited against the applicable 2004 quota levels. For goods shipped on or after 1 January 2005, no import authorization (except in the case of (c) below) will be necessary for customs clearance;
- to implement a customs-based posterior statistical surveillance system from 1 January 2005 on specific products from all countries. The list of specific products is set out in Annex I. This statistical surveillance will be based on customs clearance information supplied by importers; and
- to set up a system of prior import surveillance in the form of automatic import licensing for specific textiles and clothing products of Mainland Chinese origin which are shipped from 1 January 2005. The categories subject to the automatic import licensing arrangement is set out in Annex II.
- The full notices are accessible from the EU website at http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/sectoral/industry/textile/pr291104_en.htm and http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/sectoral/industry/textile/pr131204_en.htm.
Enquiries
- For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at 2398 5365.
Yours faithfully,
(Miss Karen Chan)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry
|
Electronic services for Restrained Textiles Export Licence, Production Notification and Certificate of Origin enable traders to make the relevant applications directly through their office computer faster and easier. Electronic service has now been extended to the submission of Cargo Manifests and Textiles Notifications. For details and enquiries, please call Tradelink at 2599 1700. |
For enquiries and complaints about factory audit check, factory inspection, production verification and consignment checks, please contact the Customs and Excise Department at the following
telephone numbers :
| Factory Audit Check Division |
2398 5218 |
| Consignment and Factory Inspection Division 1 |
2398 5240 |
| Consignment and Factory Inspection Division 2 |
2417 6011 |
| Complaint Hotline |
8100 3553 | |
Note : The Chinese text of this Notice to Exporters is for reference only. In case of discrepancies between the English and Chinese texts, the English text shall for all purposes
be conclusive. |
