U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) Office of Information and Technology has posted a notice to its Web site containing (a) a list, updated as of April 27, 2004, of companies/persons offering Sea Automated Manifest System (AMS) data processing services to the trade community, and (b) the Sea AMS Respondent Checklist, as follows:

On May 5, 2004, the House Ways and Means Committee approved an amended version of H.R. 4103, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act (also referred to as AGOA III). According to a committee press release, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman expects to bring H.R. 4103 to the House floor quickly and expects it to become law without much opposition. (Committee press release, dated 05/05/04, available at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/News.asp?FormMode=print&ID=206.)

The U.S. Census Bureau (Census) has issued a follow-up broadcast regarding the Automated Export System (AES) Commodity Redesign implementation that is scheduled for June 8, 2004.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a final rule, effective June 4, 2004, which amends 7 CFR Part 319.37-8(e) in order to add orchids of the genus Phalaenopsis from Taiwan only to the list of plants that may be imported in an approved growing medium subject to specified growing, inspection, and certification requirements.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its quarterly report on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), entitled Report to Congress: the Automated Commercial Environment. This report is dated October 1, 2003 and covers the period from June 15, 2003 through September 30, 2003.

According to two U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Electronic Bulletin Board (CEBB) notices, on April 19, 2004, the International Trade Commission (ITC) notified the International Trade Administration (ITA) of its final negative injury determination in the antidumping (AD) duty investigations of wax and wax/resin thermal transfer ribbon (TTR) from France and Japan.

The ITA states that China-wide rate applies to all China exporters which do not have a separate rate, including Kunshan, Henan, and High Hope.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective April 29, 2004, which revises certain entries on the Commerce Control List (CCL) controlled for national security reasons in Categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Part I (telecommunications), 5 Part II (information security), 6, and 7 to conform with changes in the List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies maintained and agreed to by the governments participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies that were agreed to at the December 2003 meeting.

U.S. government sources state that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is now uncertain whether it will proceed with plans for a "document accuracy test" of textiles and apparel that are quota-free and visa-free, and entered using entry type '01.'