Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

1651-0016

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statue and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

Merchandise manufactured in an insular possession of the United States may be imported free of duty, if such goods are the product of any such possession, or manufactured or produced in any such possession from materials the growth, product, or manufacture of any such possession or of the CBP territory of the United States, or of both, which does not contain foreign materials to the value of more than 70 percent of their total value (or more than 50 percent of their total value with respect to goods described in section 213(b) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act) and comes to the Customs territory of the United States directly from any such possession. The applicable statutory and regulatory basis for such preferential treatment are pursuant to the requirements of General Note 3(a)(iv) of The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the Untied States (HTSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) and 19 CFR part 7.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

CBP Form-3229, Certificate of Origin, requires the shipper to declare the goods being imported into the United States are produced or manufactured in the U.S. insular possession from materials grown, produced or manufactured in such possession, and to list the foreign materials included in the goods, including their description and value. In the case of materials described in General Note 3 (a)(iv)(B)(2), HTSUS, the exporter/importer must describe each material and state the date those materials were imported into the insular possession and the date they were incorporated into the imported good. This permits CBP to determine whether or not that particular merchandise is subject to duty. If verification of the certification is positive the person or company completing the certification is entitled to duty-free treatment. If this information is not collected, CBP has no means of verification of the claim for duty free treatment.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

Electronic submission of this information is planned as part of CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment by 2012.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item 2 above.

The information collection is unique and is not duplicated elsewhere.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities describe any methods used to minimize burden.

This collection of information does not have a significant impact on small businesses or other entities.

6. Describe consequences to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.

Since the information is unique for each submission, this information is only submitted once. If this information was not collected, CBP could not comply with its statutory and regulatory requirements.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner:

This information collection is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(c)(2).

8. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.

Public comments were solicited through two Federal Register notices published on March 25, 2008 (Volume 73, Page 15766) and on June 27 (Volume 73, Page 36544) As of this submission, one comment was received.

Public comments were solicited through two Federal Register notices published on March 25, 2008 (Volume 73, Page 15766) and on June 27 (Volume 73, Page 36544). As of this submission, one comment was received from the law firm of Donohue and Donohue recommending that the certificate of origin form required for articles shipped from insular possessions (except Puerto Rico) to the United States be redesigned to allow it to cover a blanket period rather than requiring a separate form for each shipment and also eliminating the requirement for the CBP inspector’s signature.

After an internal CBP discussion, the CBP office responsible for communication with the trade contacted the commenter, Joseph Donohue, to discuss the proposal and it was agreed that allowing for a blanket period certificate would be in the best interest of the trade and CBP. Also, as the commenter pointed out, if we eliminated the requirement for the CBP inspector’s signature, it would be more consistent with other CBP trade programs. In order to implement these new policies, it will require a change to CBP regulations 19 CFR Part 7. CBP projects that we will be able to make this regulation change by June 2009.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

There is no offer of a monetary or material value for this declaration.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

No specific assurance of confidentiality is provided with this information collection.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature

There are no questions of a personal or sensitive nature on this declaration.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.

TOTAL ANNUAL BURDEN HOURS	NO. OF RESPONDENTS	NO. OF RESPONSES PER RESPONDENT	TOTAL RESPONSES	TIME PER RESPONSE
112	10	31	310	22 minutes (.36 hours)

Public Cost

The estimated cost to the respondents is $2464.00. This is based on an estimated 112 burden hours at the average hourly rate of $22.00.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information.

There are no capital or start-up costs associated with this information collection. Additionally, there is no fee charge associated with the collection of this information.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal Government.

The estimated cost to the Federal Government is $2,170. This is based upon an estimated 62 hours expended at an hourly rate of $35.00.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I.

There are no changes to this information collection.

16. For collection of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation, and publication.

This information will not be published for statistical purposes.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

The expiration date is displayed on this form.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item

There are no exceptions to the certification statements identified in Item 19 on the 83-i.

B. No statistical methods were employed.

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