NCTO Develops New Tools against Customs Fraud

The US National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) announced on 14 January 2008 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”. 

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. 

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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