U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued notices announcing that effective May 1, 2004, the existing textile and apparel visa requirements for Poland are being canceled. CBP states that on May 1, 2004, it will no longer deny the entry of textiles and apparel manufactured in Poland that are not accompanied by a visa.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued to the ports and posted to its Web site separate instructions regarding (1) the use of visas to make claims for duty-free treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for qualifying textile and/or apparel articles (textile articles) from Sierra Leone that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after April 5, 2004, and (2) quota reporting for certain apparel articles from Sierra Leone that are subject to the AGOA aggregate tariff preference level (TPL) and its sublimit.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has published in the Federal Register its compliance schedule for the required advance electronic submission of information for cargo brought into the U.S. by rail. According to CBP, the dates when rail carriers will be required to comply vary depending on the port of entry at which the rail carrier will be arriving in the U.S.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing that a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has agreed with the U.S. that Canada's grain distribution system is unfair and violates Canada's WTO obligations. The panel did, however, find against the U.S. with respect to its claims that certain practices of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) are unfair. (USTR Press Release 2004-28, dated 04/06/04, available at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2004/04/04-28.pdf)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.

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 1, 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:

Due to the large number of bills introduced during the week of March 29, 2004 through April 2, 2004, this is Part II of a two-part series of summaries.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that the following vessel operating common carriers (VOCCs) have become Sea Automated Manifest System (AMS) operational:

Due to the large number of bills introduced during the week of March 29, 2004 through April 2, 2004, this is Part I of a two-part series of summaries. See future issue of ITT for Part II.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a new informed compliance publication (dated March 2004) entitled "What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Entry." CBP states that this publication is a review of the requirements that attach to the "entry" of imported merchandise.