On March 24, 2004, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on the state of maritime security, focusing on the impact of security efforts on maritime commerce, and the additional measures that may be needed to further enhance maritime transportation security.
Shippers NewsWire reports that the National Harbor Association has called the U.S. government's diversion of taxpayer dollars to overseas port improvement projects "disturbing," especially given the fact that the Army Corps of Engineer's annual budget for U.S. port maintenance and upgrades continues to come up short. (SNW dated 03/23/04, www.americanshipper.com.)
On March 15, 2004, the U.S. concluded negotiations to integrate the Dominican Republic into the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
On March 24, 2004, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on the state of maritime security, focusing on the impact of security efforts on maritime commerce, and the additional measures that may be needed to further enhance maritime transportation security.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message stating that all COBRA user fees, including the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) were extended through March 1, 2005 by Public Law 108-121. (See 19 USC 58C). CBP states that this message supercedes ABI message 03-2372, dated 10/01/03. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/10/04 news, 04031005 for BP summary of this extension through March 1, 2005.)(Adm: 04-0639, dated 03/29/04)
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated antidumping (AD) duty investigations of certain circular welded carbon quality line pipe from China, Mexico, and South Korea.
In the March 24, 2004 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBPBulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 13), CBP issued notices: (a) revoking a classification ruling on an artificial tree, (b) revoking a classification ruling regarding certain liquid rubber, and (c) revoking a classification ruling on hook and eye tape used for brassieres. CBP states that it is also revoking any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) has issued an amending supplement (No. 4, dated August 2003) to the Harmonized System Explanatory Notes (ENs). (Although not binding on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the ENs are followed by CBP whenever possible.) (This is Part IV of a multi-part series of summaries on this amending supplement. See future issues of ITT for additional summaries.)
Broker Power provides quota prices on a monthly basis for certain textile and apparel categories from the People's Republic of China (China) that are publicly traded. (These publicly traded quota prices have been provided by a Hong Kong quota broker.)
According to the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica, the Costa Rican government has stated that it will not require a copy of the Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) or Automated Export System (AES) record for U.S. exports until a solution to which the U.S. government agrees is negotiated. Embassy sources state that crafting such a solution will likely take quite some time.