For the purpose of preventing Communist China from obtaining foreign exchange through the exportation of merchandise to the United States, the Foreign Assets Control Regulations prohibit the unlicensed purchase and importation into the United States of Communist Chinese or North Korean merchandise, as well as numerous other commodities therein specified which are of types that have historically come from China. The Control does not issue licenses authorizing importation of Chinese-type merchandise unless satisfactory evidence of its non-Communist Chinese origin is presented. Importation under general licenses is authorized with respect to specific shipments of Chinese-type merchandise certified to be of nonCommunist Chinese origin by the government of a foreign country from which they were directly exported, provided that the country in question has set up procedures for certification pursuant to standards agreed to by the Treasury Department. The following Governments now have such certification procedures: Australia, Formosa, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Viet-Nam, and the Republic of Korea. Notices of the availability of certificates of origin. for particular commodities and of the governments prepared to issue them are published from time to time in the Federal Register. During the year a number of additional items became available for certification. The enforcement measures of the Control resulted in a number of successful criminal prosecutions. A total of $108,667 was collected by the Government in forfeitures, fines, and other penalties as a result of proceedings under the Foreign Assets Control Regulations. In the fiscal year 1960 the Treasury's management improvement program achieved the highest savings in the past six years, totaling $7.9 million annual and $1.2 million nonrecurring savings. In addition to these measurable benefits, the Department profited greatly from a variety of projects designed to improve coordination, working relationships, and skills, and to establish more effective management planning and controls. As a result of these concerted efforts the Treasury was able to meet increasing workloads with only a minor increase in personnel. To encourage maximum effective use of Treasury resources in field offices, the Secretary issued a circular to bureau heads setting forth in written form the Department's policy in regard to interbureau cooperation. Treasury installations in each geographic area were urged to maintain close contacts to insure full use of personnel, supplies, equipment, space, training, and transportation, as well as duplicating and other services common to all agencies. As further stimulation to the bureaus' management improvement efforts, the Under Secretary requested bureau heads to make a searching reexamination of all functions, operations, and services with the view of eliminating unnecessary work or steps involved. Although the bureaus were not requested to report separately on monetary savings resulting from this reexamination, a number of bureaus reported combined annual savings of over $800,000, including 55 man-years. The administrative reports of the individual bureaus include the significant bureau improvements in organization, methods, and procedures. Some noteworthy actions cutting across bureau lines, and progress in special programs common to all bureaus are discussed below. New and modernized equipment In both its manufacturing and office operations the Treasury has sought to keep pace with modern technological advances by refining existing equipment and mechanizing additional operations. Although the work processes of the larger bureaus have lent themselves more readily to machine methods, the smaller Treasury organizations also have made steady progress in converting from manual to machine operations. 1 See bureau reports for significant bureau projects. 77 |