According to The Wall Street Journal, a growing coalition of steel producers and consumers is considering whether to petition the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to limit exports of scrap steel, as recent growth in exports to Asia and elsewhere has sent scrap prices soaring. (WSJ, dated 02/12/04, www.wsj.com)
Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. The following have been issued since BP's most recent update:
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on February 6, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss, and receive updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials on, various customs and trade issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reissued a November 1999 ABI administrative message which stated that there is a persistent problem with rejects of entries of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-regulated products sent through the FDA interface with the Automated Broker Interface (ABI). The majority of such rejects result from the two scenarios described in this notice.
According to government sources, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is expected to delay, until April 2004 or later, its "document accuracy test" of textiles and apparel that are quota-free and visa-free, and entered using entry type '01.'
In mid-February 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated that it was delaying the compliance date for inbound air shipments from its previously announced date of March 4, 2004.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued two administrative messages stating that, effective February 23, 2004, the filing of U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA) and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) claims via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) system is now available for the tariff preference levels (TPLs) for textiles and/or apparel and the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for agricultural products.
According to The Journal of Commerce (JoC), rules of origin under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are so complex that many companies are forgoing NAFTA benefits, as they feel that the duty savings under NAFTA are not worth all the effort of compliance, such as obtaining manufacturers' affidavits from each supplier. (JoC, dated 02/16/04-02/22/04, www.joc.com)
In the February 19, 2004 Federal Register, the International Trade Administration (ITA) issued a notice terminating the antidumping (AD) duty investigation of certain processed hazelnuts from Turkey.
On December 16, 2003, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Request for Information (RFI) soliciting information and descriptions (i.e., white papers) on innovative concepts for smart and secure containers and related infrastructure to be used in the international trade system. CBP states that the objective is to achieve cargo container security and integrity upon arrival at U.S. ports of entry.