On 8 November 2005,
the US and China signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning trade in various textile and apparel products.
The MOU establishes quotas for certain cotton, wool, man-made fibre, silk blend and other vegetable fibre textiles and textile products produced or
manufactured in China and exported to the US.
I
n addition, the US and China established an ELVIS arrangement, which provides for the electronic transmission
to CBP by the government of China of visa information describing the shipment and including the visa number assigned to the shipment.
The ELVIS transmission certifies the country of origin and authorises the shipment to be charged against any applicable quota.
The government of China is required to issue an ELVIS transmission for shipments of certain textile products produced or manufactured in
China and exported on or after 1 January 2006. China will be free to issue additional documents, such as paper visas or certificates of origin,
and while such documents will not be a requirement of entry into the US, CBP may review them on a case-by-case basis.
In 2005, the Chinese Government through their
Ministry of Commerce and China International Electronic Commerce Center had to select a computer system to communicate with
US Department of Commerce for electronic transmission to CBP for application of quota and license. The selecting criteria had included the system
security, EDI support and self management. And it should be authorized by the US Customs. Since 2005, INFOMASTER's ECGlobal system
has been successfully selected on these basis and serving thousands of textile and apparel manufacturers to trade with US
through the license and quota system.
"Your ECGlobal solution has radically changed the old way of ours. It makes us communicate with US Customs much easier.
Now we can exchange electronic data in automatic flexible schedules. " - Chief Technical Officer