On May 20, 2003, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a proposed rule to require imported solid wood packing material (SWPM) to be either heat treated or fumigated with methyl bromide, as well as marked, prior to importation, in accordance with an international standard entitled "Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging Material in International Trade" that was approved by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) on March 15, 2002.

Comcast is predicting its proposed merger with Disney will face few regulatory obstacles, assuming Disney agrees to it, and -- at least in the traditional sense -- industry officials seem to agree. However, some believe the sheer size of the deal and the visibility of the Disney name could place some nontraditional obstacles in the way of such a merger, possibly even legislative road blocks. Disney’s only comment was that it had received the offer and would “carefully evaluate” it.

On January 23, 2004, President Bush signed into law (Public Law (P.L.) 108-199) the conference version of the fiscal year (FY) 2004 omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 2673), entitled the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004." P.L. 108-199 includes eight separate appropriations measures that provide FY 2004 appropriations for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, etc.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a notice announcing that it is undertaking a pilot program to systematically review four of its current substantive regulations to ensure, to the maximum practical extent, consistency among them and with respect to accomplishing program goals.

According to Journal of Commerce Online, as part of the Democratic response to President Bush's State of the Union address, House Minority Leader Pelosi called for the physical inspection of all ocean containers entering the U.S., charging that the Bush administration's inspection standard is too low to protect the U.S. from terrorism. (JoC Online, 01/21/04, www.joc.com )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a list of the most common errors that cause the rejection of continuous transaction bond (continuous bond) applications and CBP's desired solutions for these errors.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a proposed rule to amend its regulations at 7 CFR 319.56 on the importation of fruits and vegetables.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a final rule, effective January 15, 2004, which amends its regulations at 7 CFR 319 on the importation of logs, lumber, and other unmanufactured wood articles into the U.S. to allow wood chips derived from temperate species of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus) from South America to be treated with a surface pesticide prior to importation as an alternative to the existing treatments.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting comments by noon on February 13, 2004 regarding whether any foreign countries should be identified under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act) (19 USC 2242), which is commonly referred to as the "Special 301" provisions of the Trade Act.

The FCC is back to Square One on certain applications for license transfers and amendments for commercial TV stations. It announced Thurs. that it was going back to its old forms -- those reflecting the old media ownership rules - - while the efficacy of the new rules was being decided in the courts. The FCC put a freeze on the filing of applications Sept. 5 after the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, stayed the agency’s new ownership rules (CD Sept 8 p9). Involved are Forms 301, 314 and 315. The old versions of the forms will be effective and available for use upon publication of the FCC’s public notice in the Federal Register. The temporary freeze will end when it’s published. The Media Bureau staff has resumed processing applications filed on the June 2002 versions of the forms. Applications filed on the July 2003 versions will have to be resubmitted on the old forms and requesters encouraged to do so expeditiously after the Federal Register publication.