On March 4, 2004, the Senate passed its version of H.R. 1047, the "Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003."

The State Department's Washington File reports that the Bush Administration is seeking from Congress a two-year delay of a requirement that "visa waiver countries" issue machine-readable passports that incorporate biometric identifiers. This delay would allow countries whose passport holders are not required to have a U.S. visa to enter the country to meet technical challenges of issuing passports containing biometric data, such as digital, inkles finger scans and digital photographs. (Washington File Pub, 04/02/04, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/Archive/washfile_feature2.html)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has published in the Federal Register three separate notices announcing the following:

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has posted to its Web site the draft text of the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which is dated March 31, 2004.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice announcing the opportunity to request administrative reviews of the following antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders:

The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released its 2004 annual report documenting foreign trade barriers to U.S. exports and U.S. efforts to reduce and eliminate those barriers.

The Wall Street Journal reports that in a ruling the Bush Administration views as vital to its war against terrorism, the U.S. Supreme Court bolstered the powers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to conduct searches, allowing border agents to conduct extensive searches of vehicles at border crossings without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. According to one legal expert, this decision is a carte blanche for border searches of property, adding that the decision is not terribly surprising, given the whole border control issue and the war on terror. (WSJ, 03/31/04, www.wsj.com )

In the March 24 and 31, 2004 issues of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 13 and 14), CBP issued notices: (a) proposing to modify a ruling regarding the country of origin marking for imported auto parts that are repackaged in the U.S. for retail sale, and (b) revoking a classification ruling on a barbecue and apron set. CBP states that it is also revoking, or proposing to revoke, any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.

In connection with D/N 98-14, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued a notice of inquiry requesting comments, no later than June 1, 2004, on the current status of shipping in the U.S. trade with China and the effects of the new U.S.-China bilateral Agreement on Maritime Transportation (AMT).