Brian Feito

The Environmental Protection Agency will enforce a hard deadline for upcoming Toxic Substances Control Act labeling requirements for formaldehyde emissions in composite wood products, the EPA’s Todd Coleman said during a Feb. 23 webinar. Beginning Dec. 12, 2017, imported composite wood products covered by a recent EPA final rule will have to be labeled as compliant with new formaldehyde emissions requirements (see 1612120022). Prior to that date, EPA will not allow imports of products bearing such labels, though the agency will allow early labeling of composite wood products distributed abroad as long as it is not distributed on U.S. soil, Coleman said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 13-19:

The Food Safety and Inspection Service is extending the period for comments on proposed changes to nutrition labeling requirements for meat and poultry products, it said (here). The Jan. 19 proposed rule (see 1701190019), which would also apply to catfish, would align FSIS nutrition labels with the new labeling scheme adopted by the Food and Drug Administration in May (see 1605200021). FSIS would revise the information required on nutrition facts labels, adopt FDA's new format with larger type for calorie and serving information, and adopt new reference values for pregnant and lactating women and children under age 4. Single serving size and dual column labeling would be required for certain containers, and recordkeeping required for some nutrients. Comments are now due April 19.

An apparel importer’s purported buying agent commissions, a cash advance to its supplier and indirect payments for fabric development and inspection fees should all have been included in the transaction value of the apparel for valuation purposes, CBP said in a recent ruling. In HQ H271308 (here), issued Nov. 30, CBP headquarters found Key Apparel’s agent was not bona fide, partly because its payments to the agent were based on the apparel’s resale price rather than the price paid to the apparel supplier. CBP also found Key did not provide enough evidence that the indirect payments to its suppliers were not tied to the sale of the apparel.

Several agencies have said they are at least willing to consider accepting partner government agency (PGA) data at the time of admission of goods into a foreign-trade zone, said leadership from the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones at the NAFTZ Legislative Summit on Feb. 15 in Washington. Once CBP implements its Form 214 application for FTZ admission form in ACE, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could use the new capability to accept data before entry, they said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 6-12:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 30 - Feb. 5:

A recent executive order requiring the repeal of two regulations for every new one implemented applies only to regulations deemed “significant” by the Office of Management and Budget, according to “interim guidance” issued by OMB on Feb. 2 (here). The interim guidance also lists exemptions to the “two-for-one” and regulatory budgeting requirements set by the executive order, as well as what qualifies as a deregulatory action, including elimination of reporting and recordkeeping requirements. Despite the potential burden, the interim guidance said agencies must perform new cost analyses for the two deregulations, rather than relying on previous cost estimates.

The border adjustable “cash flow tax” proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives has many important differences from the value-added tax (VAT) imposed by many countries around the world, Caroline Freund said during a Feb. 1 Peterson Institute for International Economics conference on the proposal (here). Unlike the uniform VAT, the “cash flow tax” hits companies differently, depending on how much they import, said Freund, a senior fellow at Peterson. Though the bottom line effects of the tax may eventually even out between importers and domestic manufacturers, the adjustment could be messy, she said. And World Trade Organization cases to challenge the tax could result in unprecedented amounts of retaliation, said Chad Brown, another Peterson senior fellow, also speaking at the event.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 23-29: