Increased furniture and auto parts shipments to the U.S. meant containerized imports in March rose 7.3 percent over 2011, according to data in the Journal of Commerce Container Shipping Outlook. The increase to 1,373,301 20-foot equivalent units followed a 5.9 percent decline in February, the report said. Imports were 15.2 percent in March, compared to February. For the full first quarter, imports grew 2 percent year-over-year to 4,032,857 TEUs, it said. Imports from Asia for the first quarter barely rose 0.5 percent. China showed the most gains, up 13 percent, or 66,681 TEUs, to a total of 579,181 TEUs.

The office of U.S. Trade Representative released its annual 2012 Special 301 review process based on compliance with intellectual property rights, and IPR enforcement in 77 trading partners. The Special 301 Report provides a means for the United States to promote the protection and enforcement of IPR. For companies on the list, the U.S. Government could initiate dispute settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or other trade bodies, or eliminate tariff preferences.

Despite some improvements in China’s intellectual property rights protection and enforcement last year, “significant concerns persist in light of continuing high levels of trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy, including over the Internet,” the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said. China, Russia, Canada, Ukraine and India are among 13 countries placed in USTR’s priority watch list in the agency’s 2012 “Special 301” report done under that section of the 1974 Trade Act (http://xrl.us/bm5s32). The annual report lists countries that deny adequate protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or prohibit fair market access to U.S. businesses that rely on protection.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a Federal Order to restrict importation of plants for planting known to be hosts of Phytophthora ramorum. Therefore, APHIS is requiring specific countries to have in place an annual pest exclusion program that incorporates monitoring, sampling, testing and a validation process to verify the absence of P. ramorum in a place of production.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is inviting recommendations and suggestions for workshops covering specific sectors and targeted countries or regions where training in the U.S. approaches to development and use of standards may facilitate trade, increase U.S. exports, and/or benefit U.S. industry. NIST will offer a limited number of these Standards in Trade (SIT) workshops each year, which are designed to introduce U.S. stakeholders to emerging standards and conformity assesment in other countries and regions; identify regulatory information and market access issues; etc. Recommendations may be submitted at any time and will be considered on a quarterly basis.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is requesting comments by June 15, 2012, on its risk analysis and draft phytosanitary measures for the importation into the continental U.S. of fresh strawberry fruit from Egypt, which is currently not allowed. After reviewing the comments, if the overall conclusions of the risk analysis and the Administrator’s determination of risk remain unchanged, APHIS will authorize the importation of fresh strawberry fruit from Egypt into the continental U.S. subject to the requirements specified in the risk management document.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is seeking comments by June 15, 2012, on a proposed rule that would amend the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow the importation of fresh bananas from the Philippines into the continental U.S.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a final rule, effective May 16, 2012, amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh pitaya fruit from Central America (i.e., from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) into the continental U.S.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a final rule, effective May 16, 2012, amending the regulations governing the importation of clementines from Spain by removing from the regulations the number of clementines per consignment intended for export to the U.S. that are required to be sampled by APHIS inspectors. In place of this number, the regulations will say that inspectors will cut and inspect a sample of clementines determined by APHIS.

The Food and Drug Administration announced the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled "E2C(R2) Periodic Benefit-Risk Evaluation Report," prepared under the auspices of the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH).