Letter to Mr. Aitken for Emergency Review

May 8, 2007

Mr. Steven D. Aitken

Acting Administrator

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Washington, DC 20503

Dear Mr. Aitken:

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) requests emergency review of a new information collection request, “Implementation of Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) Established under the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 for Imports of Certain Cotton Woven Fabrics.” We would like to have the emergency review by May 31, 2007.

On December 20, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (the “Act@), Public Law 109-432, Section 406(b)(1) of the Act requires the Secretary of Commerce to fairly allocate tariff rate quotas on the import of certain cotton woven fabrics through December 31, 2009. More specifically, the Secretary of Commerce must issue licenses and ensure that the tariff rate quotas are fairly allocated to eligible manufacturers, and to issue regulations to implement these provisions. ITA has prepared an interim final rule to implement these responsibilities.

Section 406 of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 contains several provisions to assist the cotton shirt industry. These include the establishment of TRQ for a limited quantity of imports of certain cotton woven fabrics. The Act requires the Secretary of Commerce to fairly allocate the TRQ to persons who cut and sew men=s and boys= cotton shirts in the United States, and who apply for an allocation based on the amount of woven cotton fabric they imported for the manufacture of cotton shirts in calendar year 2000. The TRQ is effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouses for consumption, on or after January 1, 2007, and will remain in force through 2009.

The Department must collect certain information in order to fairly allocate the TRQ to eligible persons. Failure to make public the information requirements as soon as possible, would cause the Department to delay allocation of the TRQ, until well beyond the effective date of January 1, 2007. The recipients of a TRQ allocation require sufficient time to order cotton woven fabric eligible for the TRQ from abroad, and for such merchandise to be shipped and cleared through U.S. Customs before the end of 2007, if they are to benefit from the statute as intended by Congress. The emergency review will expedite the allocation process.

We appreciate your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,

Barry C. West

Enclosures