RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TMB/N/139
12March 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0866)
Original: English Textiles Monitoring Body
AGREEMENT ONTEXTILES AND CLOTHING
Notification under Article 2.17
Mauritius
TheTextiles Monitoring Body hasreceived anotification from Mauritius pursuant to
paragraph 17ofArticle 2.TheTMB iscirculating thisnotification toWTO Members fortheir
information.G/TMB/N/139
Page2
Mauritius Mission totheUnited Nations, Geneva
4December 1995
H.E. Mr.A.Szepesi
Chairman
Textiles Monitoring Body
World Trade Organization
1211 Geneva 10
Mr.Ambassador,
Iampleased toenclose foryourinformation andrecord acopyoftheVisaAgreement signed
on12September 1995 bytheHonourable D.Gungah, Minister ofTrade andShipping and
H.E. Mr.Leslie M.Alexander, USAmbassador concerning textiles andtextile products.
Please accept, Mr.Ambassador, theassurances ofmyhighest consideration.
(signed) P.E.Curé
Minister-CounsellorG/TMB/N/139
Page3
VISA ARRANGEMENT
BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENTS OFMAURITIUS AND THE UNITED STATES
OFAMERICA CONCERNING TEXTILES AND TEXTILE PRODUCTS
1. DEFINITIONS
A. Forthepurpose ofthisarrangement, theterm"Textiles" means textiles andtextile products
ofcotton, woolandman-made fibres, vegetable fibres other thancotton, blends ofanyoftheforegoing
fibres andblends containing silk,butdoesnotinclude garments which contain 70percentormore
byweight ofsilk(unless theyalsocontain over17percentbyweight ofwool), orproducts other than
garments which contain 85percentormore byweight ofsilk,asdefined inthebilateral agreement.
B. Theterm"Category" signifies aclassoftextiles ortextile products which maybesubject to
aquota restriction. Theterm"Category" includes partcategories andmerged categories asestablished
intheBilateral Agreement.
C. A"Visa" isastamp issued bythegovernment ofthecountry oforigin ofthetextile exported
totheUnited States, orbyitsrepresentative, which describes theshipment, certifies thecountry of
origin, andauthorizes theshipment tobecharged against anyapplicable quota.
2. VISA REQUIREMENTS
A. TheGovernment ofMauritius shall issue avisaforeachshipment oftextiles produced or
manufactured inMauritius andexported totheUnited States, regardless ofvalue except asnoted in
paragraph 2Nbelow, incategories 200-239, 300-369, 400-469, 600-670 and800-899, aslisted inthe
correlation: Textile andApparel categories withtheHarmonized Tariff Schedule oftheUnited States
orsuccessor document. Thisvisashall bepresented totheUSCustoms Service before entry, or
withdrawal from warehouse forconsumption, intothecustoms territory oftheUnited States (the50
States, thedistrict ofColombia andPuerto Rico).
B. Should additional categories, merged categories orpartcategories beadded totheBilateral
Agreement orbecome subject toimport quotas themerged orpartcategories shallbeautomatically
included inthecoverage ofthisvisaarrangement. Merchandise inthemerged orpartcategory(s)
exported onorafterthedatethemerged orpartcategory(s) isadded totheAgreement orbecomes
subject toimport quotas shallrequire avisa.
C. Ashipment shallbevisaed bythestamping oftheoriginal circular visainblueinkonthefront
oftheoriginal commercial invoice orsuccessor document. Theoriginal visashallnotbestamped on
duplicate copies oftheinvoice. Theoriginal oftheinvoice withtheoriginal visastamp willberequired
toenter theshipment intotheUnited States. Duplicates oftheinvoice and/or visamaynotbeused
forthispurpose.
D. Each visastamp willinclude thefollowing information:
I. Thevisanumber: Thevisanumber shallbeinthestandard ninedigitletter format
beginning withonenumeric digitforthelastdigitoftheyearofexport, followed bythetwo
character alpha codespecified bytheInternational Organization forStandardization (ISO),
(thecodeforMauritius is"MU"), andasix-digit numerical serial number identifying the
shipment; e.g.5MU123456.G/TMB/N/139
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II. Thedateofissuance: Thedateofissuance shallbetheday,month andyearonwhich
thevisawasissued.
III. Thesignature oftheissuing official andtheprinted name oftheissuing official: The
signature shallbethatofanofficial authorized toissuevisasbytheGovernment ofMauritius.
IV. Thecorrect category(s), merged category(s), partcategory(s), quantity(s) andunit(s)
ofquantity oftheshipment intheunit(s) ofquantity provided forintheUSDepartment of
Commerce correlation andintheHarmonized Tariff Schedule oftheUnited States, annotated
orsuccessor documents shallbereported inthespaces provided within thevisastamp, (e.g.
"Cat. 434-210 DZ"). Quantities mustbestated inwhole numbers. Decimals orfractions will
notbeaccepted. Merged category quota merchandise maybeaccompanied byeither the
appropriate merged category visaorthecorrect category visacorresponding totheactual
shipment. Forexample, quota category 347/348 maybevisaed as"category 347/348" orif
theshipment consists solely ofcategory 347merchandise, theshipment maybevisaed as
"Category 347", butnotas"Category 348". If,however, amerged quota category suchas
340/640 hasaquota sub-limit oncategory 340; thenthere must bea"Category 340" visa
fortheshipment ifitincludes category 340merchandise.
E. Ifthequantity indicated onthevisaislessthanthatoftheshipment, entryshallnotbepermitted.
F. Ifthequantity indicated onthevisaismore thanthatoftheshipment, entry shallbepermitted
andonlytheamount entered shallbecharged toanyapplicable quota.
G. Entry willnotbepermitted, except asnoted inparagraph 2Jbelow, iftheshipment doesnot
haveavisa,orifthevisanumber, dateofissuance, signature, printed name ofthesigner, category,
quantity orunits ofquantity aremissing, incorrect, illegible orhavebeencrossed outoraltered in
anyway.
H. Thecomplete name andaddress ofacompany actually involved inthemanufacturing process
ofthetextile product covered bythevisashallbeprovided onthefront ofthetextile document.
I. Thecategories, quantities anddateofexport shallbethose determined bytheUSCustoms
Service. TheUnited States Customs Service classifies allimports intotheCustoms Territory ofthe
USincompliance withUSLaws andRegulations.
J. Ifavisaisnotacceptable thenanewcorrect visaoravisawaiver must bepresented tothe
USCustoms Service before anyportion oftheshipment willbereleased. Avisawaiver maybeissued
bytheUSDepartment ofCommerce, attherequest oftheGovernment ofMauritius. Avisawaiver
onlywaives therequirement topresent avisaatentry, itdoesnotwaive anyquota requirements. Visa
waivers willonlybeissued forclassification purposes orforonetimespecial purpose shipments that
arenotpartofanongoing commercial enterprise.
K. Ifthevisaed invoice isdeficient, theUSCustoms Service willnotreturn theoriginal document
afterentry, butwillprovide acertified copyofthatvisaed invoice foruseinobtaining anewcorrect
original visaed invoice, oravisawaiver.
L. Ifashipment fromMauritius hasbeenallowed entry intothecommerce oftheUnited States
witheither anincorrect visaornovisa,andredelivery isrequested butcannot bemade, theshipment
willbecharged tothecorrect category limitwhether ornotareplacement visaorwaiver isprovided.G/TMB/N/139
Page5
M. Thedateofexport istheactual datethemerchandise finally leaves thecountry oforigin. For
merchandise exported byvessel, thisisthedayonwhich thecarrier departs thelastportinthecountry
oforigin.
N. Merchandise imported forthepersonal useoftheimporter andnotforresale, regardless of
value, andproperly marked commercial sample shipments valued at$US250orlessdonotrequire
avisaforentry andshallnotbecharged toagreement levels, ifapplicable.
O. TheGovernment ofMauritius shallprovide theGovernment oftheUnited States withthree
original, clear, reproducible copies ofthevisastamp which shallbethestamp designated foruse
throughout theentire period thevisaarrangement isineffect, andthree originals ofthesignatures of
theofficials authorized tosignvisas. Thestamp, andanysubsequent changes thereto, mustbeapproved
bytheGovernment oftheUnited States. TheGovernment ofMauritius shallnotify theGovernment
oftheUnited States atleastforty-five dayspriortoachange intheofficials authorized tosignthevisa.
P. Either Government mayterminate, inwhole orinpart,thisadministrative arrangement by
giving ninety dayswritten notice totheother.
Signed this12thDayofSeptember 1995
(Signed) (Signed)
FortheGovernment ofMauritius FortheGovernment ofthe
United States ofAmerica