The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective March 18, 2004, which, among other things, amends 15 CFR Parts 745 and 774 to implement certain understandings reached at the June 2003 plenary meeting of the Australia Group (AG).

On March 18, 2004, in DaimlerChrysler Corporation v. U.S., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversed the Court of International Trade's (CIT) denial of 9802.00.80 duty benefits for the top-coat painting of certain trucks assembled in Mexico.

In the March 10 and 17, 2004 issues of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 11 and 12), CBP issued notices (a) proposing to revoke two classification rulings on karaoke machines, (b) proposing to modify two classification rulings on certain multiple switches, and (c) granting Lever-Rule protection to Tomy Corporation. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Congress that tying trade agreements to labor or human rights standards amounts to protectionism that may ultimately harm the U.S. According to Greenspan, using such standards as a cure for the migration and outsourcing of jobs overseas could actually result in job losses. (WSJ Pub 03/12/04, www.wallstreetjournal.com)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued its Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (Offset Act) annual report of disbursements for fiscal year (FY) 2003.

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

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) states that an unscheduled outage of 30-45 minutes will occur on March 29, 2004 at 00:01 EST. During the outage, incoming ABI and AMS messages will be queued, and then processed when the ACS system returns to operational status. (Adm: 04-0559, dated 03/22/04, available by fax or email, by emailing documents@brokerpower.com )

The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued two notices announcing that, following receipt of requests from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), it has instituted investigations under 19 USC 3804(f) regarding the potential economy wide and selected sectoral effects of the proposed Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) including the Dominican Republic, and the proposed U.S.-Morocco FTA.

The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) has announced the launch of the DDTC Response Team.

The Journal of Commerce (JoC) reports that ocean carriers are strongly opposed to a security fee of $1 per foot of vessel length proposed by the South Carolina State Ports Authority. According to JoC, the charge will take effect in July and is expected to bring in $1 million to cover increased security costs. (JoC Pub 03/15 - 21/04, www.joc.com)