The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on June 18, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss and receive updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials on various trade and customs issues.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting written comments on its Special 301 out-of-cycle review of Israel regarding intellectual property rights (IPR).

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice stating that, at the request of the petitioners, it is postponing the preliminary antidumping (AD) duty determinations on certain tissue paper products and certain crepe paper products from China until no later than August 25, 2004 (from July 26, 2004).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is making available to the public the document it issued to the European Union (EU) regarding the manner in which CBP will handle certain Passenger Name Record (PNR) data relating to flights between the U.S. and EU member states.

Washington Trade Daily reports that more than half of the Senate has signed a letter urging final action before the August recess on the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003 (H.R. 1047). The House and Senate have both passed their own versions of this bill, but the article reports that some Senate Democrats continue to block a conference with the House, something that must take place in order for differences between the two versions to be resolved. (WTD dated 07/13/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com.)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued the June 2004 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Modernization newsletter, which is highlighted below:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a notice requesting comments by August 16, 2004 on motor vehicle and highway safety issues in order to assist NHTSA in shaping its 2005-2010 strategic plan.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a set of four frequently asked questions (FAQ) and responses (dated July 8, 2004) on the "Rail" portion of its final rule on the advance electronic presentation of information pertaining to cargo (ocean, air, rail, and truck) prior to its being brought into, or sent from, the U.S.

On July 13, 2004, President Bush signed into law H.R. 4103, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message, which CBP states is a follow-up to a previous message, that contains additional procedures for preparing electronic invoices. CBP states that these additional instructions pertain to exceptions in reporting the invoice value for terms of sale.