Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. The following have been issued since BP's most recent update:
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective February 9, 2004, which amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) at 15 CFR Parts 734, 740 and 774 to transfer licensing jurisdiction for certain QRS 11-00100-100/101 Micromachined Angular Rate Sensors from the State Department to the Department of Commerce (DOC).
The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a notice stating that based upon the results of a review, it has determined that the Cotton Research and Promotion Order (Cotton Order) should be continued without change.
The Census Bureau has posted to its Web site a list of 174 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) numbers that are not valid for reporting exports (either on a paper Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) or Automated Export System (AES) equivalent) as of January 1, 2004.
According to trade and U.S. government sources, effective from February 2, 2004 through April 30, 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is detaining or sending to a laboratory for testing, importations of socks from at most 22 targeted countries, in order to verify their country of origin.
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on February 6, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss, and receive updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on, various trade and customs issues.
According to the Washington File, the State Department has stated that few of the 27 nations participating in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) have indicated that they would be able to meet an October 26, 2004 deadline requiring that they issue machine readable passports that incorporate biometric identifiers. Under the VWP, citizens of the 27 countries are able to enter the U.S. for tourism or business for 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. (Washington File Pub 02/03/04, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/texts/04020305.htm)
In the February 4, 2004 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBPBulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 6), CBP issued a notice proposing to revoke two classification rulings on certain voice and data terminal blocks. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in this notice.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued messages on a number of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty actions, many of which (marked by an * in the action column) were previously published in the Federal Register by the International Trade Administration (ITA) and summarized in International Trade Today.
(a) If the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the original investigation, but the manufacturer is, the AD cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the manufacturer of the merchandise.