Bipartisan Congressional Group Ask for GAO Review of FTZ Program, Especially at Relating to Textiles

On August 22, 2016, a bipartisan group of United States Senators and one United States Representative, wrote to the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") requesting a GAO review of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board's ("FTZ Board") process for evaluating Foreign-Trade Zone applications.

Specific they request that the GAO conduct a review of FTZ Board processes and implementation of the regulations in cases involving textile inputs that includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1) The review and evaluation of all of the required factors in the chapeau of Section 400.27;

2) The review and evaluation of the threshold tests contained in Section 400.27(a) of the regulations;

3) The review and evaluation of the net economic effect test in Section 400.27(b) of the regulations;

4) The role of other offices or agencies such as the Commerce Department Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) in the FTZ Board's evaluation.

The request was submitted by Senator Amy Klobuchar Amy [Dem. Minnesota], Senator Al Franken [Dec., Minnesota], Senator Pat Roberts [Rep., Kansas], Senator Cory Gardner [Rep., Colorado], and Representative Tom Emmer [Rep., Minnesota, 6th].

Learn more about FTZs at http://www.agathonassociates.com/textile-pub/ftz/index.htm.