A recent Journal of Commerce editorial stated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection's December 2003 regulations on the advance electronic presentation of cargo information for inbound ocean cargo have provoked a firestorm of criticism among trade groups by defining the shipper in the transport contract as the "foreign vendor, supplier, manufacturer, or other similar party," and specifically not a freight forwarder or other logistics provider. (JoC dated 02/16-22/04, www.joc.com.)

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 February 12, 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:

The State Department has issued a final rule, effective February 17, 2004, which amends the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) by modifying the U.S.' denial policy regarding the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) so that it is consistent with United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 1493 of July 2003.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has recently posted to the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) Web site (http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/corr.htm) the 2004 Correlation: Textile and Apparel Categories with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

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.)

The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a report entitled, Textiles and Apparel: Assessment of the Competitiveness of Certain Foreign Suppliers to the U.S. Market.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued its first version, dated February 12, 2004, of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) concerning its final rule which amended the Customs regulations to require the advance electronic presentation of information pertaining to cargo (sea, air, rail, or truck) prior to its being brought into, or sent from, the U.S.

According to Washington Trade Daily, negotiations are ongoing for the following proposed free trade agreements (FTAs): U.S. Central-American (ongoing with Dominican Republic; completed with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), Free Trade Area of the Americas, U.S.-Southern African Customs Union, U.S.-Morocco, U.S.-Bahrain, U.S.-Thailand, U.S.-Andean nations, and U.S.-Panama. The article also states that the U.S.-Australia FTA has already been negotiated and is pending implementation. (WTD dated 02/14/04-02/15/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com)

The Vietnamese Ministry of Trade (MOT) has issued an announcement which names those Vietnamese textile and garment factories determined by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to be closed or denied access to verification officials, as well as those factories with a "high transshipment capability."

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has amended its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of tapered roller bearings and parts thereof, finished and unfinished from Japan for the period of October 1, 1996 through September 30, 1997 as there is now a final and conclusive court decision with respect to NTN Corporation (NTN).