Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, announced on March 19, 2012 that he sent three separate petitions to the Food and Drug Administration requesting the agency permanently remove regulatory approval for the use of bisphenol-A (BPA) in (i) infant formula and baby and toddler food packaging, (ii) small reusable household food and beverage containers, and (iii) canned food packaging, on the grounds that manufacturers have stopped using BPA in these products.
Brian Feito
Brian Feito is Managing Editor of International Trade Today, Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. A licensed customs broker who spent time at the Department of Commerce calculating antidumping and countervailing duties, Brian covers a wide range of subjects including customs and trade-facing product regulation, the courts, antidumping and countervailing duties and Mexico and the European Union. Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason University. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2012.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products that may be considered technical barriers to trade. Broker Power delays its publication of these postings for 2 - 3 weeks as there is often a delay until NIST makes the text of the regulations available.
The Food and Drug Administration is posting filer evaluation outcomes online, prospectively, starting from the beginning of fiscal year 2012, to help increase the accuracy of the information submitted to FDA and the accountability among the actors in the supply chain. This list will be updated monthly, and FDA will post the most recent outcome for each filer. The FDA states that, because this list is prospective, and updated monthly, interested parties should not make any inferences with regard to the status of filers that do not have filer evaluation outcomes posted on this site.
The International Trade Administration has issued a fact sheet announcing its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations of certain steel wheels from China (A-570-973, C-570-974), its finding of AD critical circumstances for one company and the China-wide entity, and its finding of CV critical circumstances for all other Chinese producers/exporters.
The following are the trade-related hearings scheduled from March 20-23:
The International Trade Administration has issued a fact sheet announcing its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty investigations of bottom mount combination refrigerator-freezers from Korea and Mexico (A-580-865 and A-201-839, respectively), and the countervailing duty investigation of the same product from Korea (C-580-866), its finding of targeted dumping for two companies from Korea, and its finding of AD critical circumstances for one company from Mexico.
Officials at the U.S.-Panama Business Council state that the Panamanian Minister for Commerce and Industry, Ricardo Quijano, has set a goal of October 1, 2012 for the implementation of the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement. Quijano attended the recent “Panama Week” conference held March 15-16 in Washington, DC.
The following are trade-related highlights of the Executive Communications sent to Congress for March 16, 2012:
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a final rule amending the packaging and labeling control provisions of the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) regulations for human and veterinary drug products. The final rule amends 21 CFR Part 211 by limiting the application of special control procedures for the use of cut labeling to immediate container labels, individual unit cartons, or multiunit cartons containing immediate containers that are not packaged in individual unit cartons.
According to the International Trade Commission, a section 337 patent complaint on certain food waste disposers and components and packaging was filed on behalf of Emerson Electric Co. on March 16, 2012. The proposed respondent is: