The International Trade Commission has rescheduled the public hearing in its investigation of trade in remanufactured goods (332-525). The hearing will now begin at 9:00 am on February 28, 2012 at the ITC building.
Brian Feito
Brian Feito is Managing Editor of International Trade Today, Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. A licensed customs broker who spent time at the Department of Commerce calculating antidumping and countervailing duties, Brian covers a wide range of subjects including customs and trade-facing product regulation, the courts, antidumping and countervailing duties and Mexico and the European Union. Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason University. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2012.
The Small Business Administration published a final rule, effective March 26, 2012, increasing the small business size receipts-based standards for 22 industries in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Sector 48-49, Transportation and Warehousing, while retaining the current standards for the remaining 37 industries in that sector. The final rule is part of SBA’s ongoing comprehensive review of all size standards required by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, Executive Order 13563, and an internal review process started by SBA in 2007. SBA did not review the employee-based standards for industries in NAICS Sector 48-49, but will do so at a later date with other employee-based size standards.
The Bureau of Industry and Security states that it has renewed for 180 days its Temporary Denial Order against Mahan Airways of Iran, Zarand Aviation, Gatewick LLC, Pejman Mahmood Kosarayanifard, Mahmoud Amini, Kerman Aviation, Sirjanco Trading, Ali Eslamian, and related parties.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule, effective February 24, 2012, which amends Supplement No. 7 to Part 748 of the Export Administration Regulations to revise the existing Authorization Validated End-User listings for GE India Industrial Pvt Ltd.; Applied Materials (China), Inc.; Boeing Tianjin Composites Co. Ltd.; CSMC Technologies Corporation; Lam Research Corporation; and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.
The International Trade Administration announced that President Obama appointed two new private sector members to the President’s Export Council on February, 17, 2012. The two new members are Dr. Gary W. Loveman of Caesars Palace and Denise Morrison of Campbell Soup Company. See ITA press release here.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes to its Phytosanitary Certificate and Issuance Tracking (PCIT) system. PCIT will begin automatically transferring phytosanitary certificates to foreign countries receiving U.S. exports, reducing previous delays associated with paperwork verification. In addition, APHIS is expanding the availability of user-printed phytosanitary certificates, eliminating the need for users to pay for shipped documents.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that the final draft report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Dietary Exposure Assessment Methodologies for Residues of Veterinary Drugs, which took place in Rome, Italy, from November 8-11, 2011, is now available on the web here and here. Comments on the report should be sent to both Philippe Verger (vergerp@who.int) and Masami Takeuchi (Masami.Takeuchi@fao.org) by March 15, 2012.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an interim final rule, effective March 1, 2012, regarding its expanded access to the records of persons that manufacture, process, pack, transport, distribute, receive, hold, or import food, as authorized by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Comments on the interim final rule are due by May 23, 2012. The FDA intends to finalize the interim rule one year from the close of the comment period.
USTR announced that the U.S. and Japan concluded two days of consultations, ending February 22, 2012, related to Japan’s interest in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. This meeting was a follow-up session to the senior-level consultation with Japan held on February 7, 2012.
Dave Camp (R-MI) and Kevin Brady (R-TX), Chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and Trade Subcommittee, respectively, as well as Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, lauded the U.S. Trade Representative’s announcement of a March 15, 2012 effective date for the Korea-U.S. trade agreement. All three congressmen also urged action on entry into force of the Panama and Colombia FTAs. Senator Hatch noted that he would carefully scrutinize implementation of KORUS to ensure that Korea upholds its end of the agreement. Hatch further urged President Obama to request the renewal of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).