Correction: Elena Ryan is the Director of Trade Facilitation and Administration at CBP (see 13031422).

CBP is extending the comment period to April 17 for an existing information collection on applications for Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) admission and activity permits. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or to the information collected.

There have been fewer outages in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in January and February this year compared to the same months in 2012, said CBP in a notice on its Website. There were also fewer hours of unscheduled outages in 2012 compared to 2011, the agency said. CBP issued the notice in response to comments from the trade community "pointing to a perceived increase" in ACE outages, it said.

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website March 13, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)

CBP is allowing an additional 30 days, until April 15, for comments on an existing information collection for free entry of unaccompanied articles. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or to the information collected. The agency issued its original request for comments Dec. 26 (see 12122617).

CBP is asking for comments by April 15 on an existing information collection on applications to establish a centralized examination station (CES). CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or to the information collected.

Two of CBP's offices in Washington state will close a half hour early beginning March 18, said CBP Seattle in a Trade Information Notice (TIN). The two offices, the Nevada Street Trade Office and the Port of Tacoma Office will operate from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the notice said. Those offices currently operate through 5 p.m.

CBP Assistant Commissioner of the Office of International Trade Al Gina is unable to attend the Trade and Transportation Conference April 3 in person due to a freeze on non-essential travel related to government budget cuts, said the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT). Gina will still give the keynote on April 3, but will now appear via live Webcast, said CONECT.

CBP will host a Webinar to discuss its pilot program using the Participating Government Agency (PGA) Message Set within the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), said CBP in a CSMS message. The Webinar is scheduled for March 20 from 2-4 p.m. ET, said CBP. "While this webinar is not intended to cover how the pilots will be deployed, the webinar will cover available information on how the pilots will operate," it said. The Environmental Protection Agency "will discuss the specifics of their pilot using the PGA Message Set data elements for ozone-depleting substances, and vehicles and engines," and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) " will discuss the specifics of their pilot using the PGA Message Set for products covered by the Import Inspection Application, the FSIS Form 9540-1."

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues: