The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated administrative reviews of the following antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders for the specific companies listed in the ITA notice (unless otherwise noted):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice stating that, effective January 23, 2004, the U.S. is rescinding the visa and ELVIS requirement for Chinese origin products in Categories 222, 349/649 and 350/650 which remain subject to safeguard quotas. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/22/04 news, 04012210, for BP summary of the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements' (CITA's) announcement of this rescission.) (QBT-04-001, dated 01/23/04, available at http://www.cbp.gov/ImageCache/cgov/content/import/textiles/qbt/qbt2004/2004_5f001_2edoc/v1/2004_5f001.doc)
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a Federal Register notice stating that pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the existing export visa and folklore certification requirements are being canceled for textile and apparel products in Categories 410, 433, 443, and 611 as such products are no longer subject to 'regular' quotas for exports from Mexico on and after January 1, 2004. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/14/04 news, 04011415, for earlier BP summary.) (FR Pub 01/23/04, available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/pdf/04-1560.pdf)
At its January 21, 2004 meeting, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) considered a petition from the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA) requesting that the FMC amend its non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) bonding provisions to reflect a recent U.S.-China maritime agreement.
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.
In October 2003, the Coast Guard issued six final rules which adopted, with changes, a series of July 2003 interim rules that promulgated maritime security requirements mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA).
On January 22, 2004, the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) published a notice denying a petition submitted by Alarmex Holdings Group, Inc. which had alleged that certain printed, 100% rayon, herringbone fabric, of 220 g/m2 fabric weight, of 20's singles spun rayon yarn, of 100 X 64 construction, classified in HTS 5516.14.00, for use in apparel articles, cannot be supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities in a timely manner.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a notice on its Web site announcing that the next Customs Broker Licensure Examination will be held on Monday, April 5, 2004.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its weekly quota commodity report as of January 20, 2004. This report includes tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) on various products such as beef, tuna, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cocoa, tobacco, certain Jordan Free Trade Agreement (JFTA), Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA), and Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) TRQs, etc. This report also includes TRQs on certain HTS Chapter 52 cotton, upland cotton under HTS Chapter 99, the UCFTA, SFTA, CBTPA, AGOA, ATPDEA, and NAFTA tariff preference levels (TPLs) for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics under HTS 9902.51.11 & 9902.51.12, etc. (CBP's weekly quota commodity report, dated 01/20/04, available at http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
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 )