The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that the U.S. intends to initiate free trade negotiations with Thailand. (See ITT's Online Archives or 02/18/04 news, 04021820, for BP summary of USTR's press release announcing its Congressional notification of this intention.)
Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is a reference manual that provides duty rates for almost every item that exists. It is a system of classifying and taxing all goods imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is a global standard for naming and describing trade products, and consists of a hierarchical structure that assigns a specific code and rate to each type of merchandise for duty, quota, and statistical purposes. The HTS was made effective on January 1, 1989, replacing the former Tariff Schedules of the United States. It is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission, but the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the HTS.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has scheduled the next Customs Broker Licensure Examination for Monday, April 5, 2004.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a notice announcing that the U.S. and Vietnam have amended the existing U.S.-Vietnam textile and apparel visa arrangement in order to implement the Electronic Visa Information System (ELVIS) for textiles and apparel that are subject to quota limits, that are produced or manufactured in Vietnam and exported on or after March 22, 2004.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has recently posted to the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) Web site (http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/corr.htm) the 2004 Correlation: Textile and Apparel Categories with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has recently posted to its Web site certain new Trade Support Network (TSN) committee Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) user requirement recommendations.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that the U.S. intends to initiate free trade negotiations with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia (Andean countries). (See ITT's Online Archives or 11/26/03 news, 03112620, for BP summary of USTR's press release announcing its Congressional notification on this matter.)
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.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated an antidumping (AD) duty investigation on outboard engines from Japan.
State Department Announces Name Change from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to "Serbia and Montenegro
The State Department has issued a notice announcing that on February 4, 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia changed its name to "Serbia and Montenegro."
In early January 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued an ABI administrative message announcing that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prior notice affirmation of compliance for air waybill (AWB) would be edited for format: NNN-NNNNNNNN. In that message, CBP noted that this was also a change to the BN01 and BN02 records in the 'BN' application. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/09/04 news, 04010955, for previous BP summary of previous message, Adm: 04-0031.)