(Read Footnotes and Disclaimers at End of Notice)

(Read Footnotes and Disclaimers at End of Notice)

On January 9, 2004 the State Department issued a Worldwide Caution to remind U.S. citizens of the continuing threat that they may be targets of terrorist attacks despite the lowering of the homeland security threat level to Yellow (Elevated) from Orange (High).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has published a final rule which amends the Customs Regulations effective January 5, 2004 regarding the advance electronic presentation of information pertaining to cargo (sea, air, rail, or truck) prior to its being brought into, or sent from, the U.S. (See final rule for compliance dates for each transportation mode.)

The Wall Street Journal reports that DNA testing has confirmed that the Washington state cow infected with mad-cow disease came from Canada, a development that allows the U.S. beef industry to shift blame but probably will not appease many countries enough to lift their bans on U.S. beef imports anytime soon. (WSJ dated 01/07/04, www.wsj.com.)

According to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Annex 300-B, Appendix 3.1, the 'regular' quota for the following Mexican categories expired on December 31, 2003:

On January 7, 2004, the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued a press release announcing that the Cargo Handling Cooperative Program (CHCP), a partnership between MARAD and private industry, has released the results of testing it performed on five electronic security seals (e-seals) proposed for use on intermodal freight containers.

On October 18, 2003 the Bureau of Census (Census) implemented a final rule to, among other things, amend 15 CFR 30.7 to require the Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Social Security Number (SSN) of the duly authorized forwarding or other agent (if any) of a principal party in interest to be on the paper Shipper's Export Declaration (SED, Form 7525-V).

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the changed circumstances antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty reviews of certain pasta from Turkey, concluding that Tat Konserve Sanayi A.S. (Tat) is the successor-in-interest to Pastavilla Makarnacilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (Pastavilla) for AD and CV duty cash deposit purposes.

(a) Sanjian has an AD duty rate of zero; no cash deposits will be required although suspension of liquidation will continue.