The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are accepting applications for new members to serve four-year terms on seven agricultural trade advisory committees, the agencies said Oct. 15. The available committees include the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee -- which advises USDA and USTR on existing trade agreements and negotiating new ones -- and Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees on the following commodity sectors: animals and animal products; fruits and vegetables; grains, feed and planting seeds; processed foods; sweeteners and sweetener products; and tobacco, cotton and peanuts. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and have “significant expertise” in both agricultural and international trade matters. Applications are due by 5 p.m. EST on Nov. 13.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corp. announced Oct. 8 that Special Import Quota #25 for upland cotton will be established Oct. 15, allowing importation of 5,551,846 kilograms (25,499 bales) of upland cotton, the same as for the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Jan. 12, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by April 12, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the May 2020 through July 2020 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is lifting fumigation requirements for blueberries imported from two regions in Chile, it said in a notice released Oct. 7. Blueberries imported from Chile's regions VIII and XVI will no longer require methyl bromide fumigation, and are now instead eligible for importation under a systems approach that includes requirements for inspections and a phytosanitary certificate from the Chilean government. The notice takes effect Oct. 8.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is amending the Cotton Board Rules and Regulations to increase the value assigned to imported cotton for the purposes of calculating supplemental assessments on imports collected under the Cotton Research and Promotion Program, it said in a notice released Oct. 2. The revised value in the direct final rule is 1.1562 cent, a decrease of .066 cent per kilogram. The decrease reflects a fall in the average price of Upland cotton received by U.S. farmers during the period January through December 2019. AMS's notice also includes a table of adjusted assessments corresponding to each Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading for which they are due. The changes take effect Dec. 4, unless adverse comments are received by Nov. 4.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Oct. 1 that Special Import Quota #24 for upland cotton will be established Oct. 8, allowing importation of 5,551,846 kilograms (25,499 bales) of upland cotton, up from 2,342,753 kilograms (10,760 bales) in the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Jan. 5, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by April 5, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the May through July 2020 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Foreign Agricultural Service will charge $290 for the 2021 tariff-rate quota (TRQ) year for each license issued to a person or firm by the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorizing the importation of certain dairy articles that are subject to tariff-rate quotas set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, it said in a notice released Oct. 2. The new fee is $10 lower than the $300 fee charged for 2018, 2019 and 2020 TRQ year licenses.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is eliminating restrictions on imports of pine shoot beetle host materials from Canada, including cut pine Christmas trees and other articles containing pine bark, it said in a final rule released Sept. 30. APHIS is removing quarantine requirements for domestic interstate transport of pine shoot beetle hosts, rendering the regulations covering imports from Canada obsolete, APHIS said. Regulations under 7 CFR 319.40-5(m) that are now to be eliminated under this final rule required that imports from Canada be accompanied by statements and certificates showing the origin of regulated articles and the places through which they were moved, as well as fumigation requirements in some circumstances. The final rule takes effect Nov. 2.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding Papua New Guinea to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because it is affected by African swine fever, it said in a notice released Sept. 29. Restrictions take effect retroactively to April 1, 2020.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Sept. 24 that Special Import Quota #23 for upland cotton will be established Oct. 1, allowing importation of 2,342,753 kilograms (10,760 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Dec. 29, and entered into the U.S. by March 29, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the May through July 2020 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service released a notice Sept. 25 formally delaying its deadline for ACE filing of its “core” partner government agency (PGA) message set until January. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, APHIS has decided to delay implementation until January 25, 2021. On that date, APHIS intends to begin applying [Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS)] flags, which will alert filers, who opt to submit data electronically, whether APHIS import data is or may be required. Importers or brokers using ACE must enter APHIS-required import data when they receive an APHIS-specific HTS flag in order to complete their entry in the system,” the notice said. APHIS had announced the delay by email in June (see 2006300062).