On April 17, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
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 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails April 16, 2012, announcing changes to some Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site as of April 16, 2012, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov.
During the week of April 10 through April 16, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration modified the following existing Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments by June 18, 2012, on a proposed rule that would amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by (i) adding a requirement for persons shipping under Authorization Validated End-User to send written notice of such shipments to the recipient VEU; (ii) saying that item-specific conditions under Authorization VEU no longer apply when such items no longer require licenses or become eligible under a license exception; and (iii) for such items, VEUs are still subject to the recordkeeping requirements for items shipped before removal of the license requirement or addition of the license exception.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is seeking additional comments by May 17, 2012, on the extension of its existing information collection on identification of imported explosives materials.
Mexico's Diario Oficial of April 17, 2012, lists notices from the Secretary of the Economy as follows:
James Dinkins, Executive Associate Director of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), was elected chair of the World Customs Organization's (WCO) enforcement committee at its four-day meeting in Brussels, Belgium. The committee was established in 1983 to develop strategies to combat customs offenses.
The International Trade Commission said it will not review the administrative law judge's(ALJ) finding of violations of section 337 in the importation into the U.S., the sale for importation, and the sale within the U.S. after importation of certain handbags, luggage, accessories, and packaging thereof, by reason of infringement of trademarks held by Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. of France and Louis Vuitton U.S. Manufacturing, Inc. of San Dimas, CA (337-TA-754). The ALJ's initial determination also recommended that the ITC issue a general exclusion order and set a bond of 100% during the period of Presidential review.
This is a reminder that, as set forth in its February 14, 2012 final rule, the International Trade Administration will calculate antidumping rates in a manner which provides offsets for non-dumped comparisons (i.e., no “zeroing”) while adopting a new monthly average-to-average calculation methodology as its default practice, for all administrative reviews where the preliminary results are issued after April 16, 2012. Note that this elimination of zeroing is a matter of policy; the amended regulations do not specify the provision of offsets. Furthermore, alternative methodologies may still be utilized by ITA in exceptional circumstances, although the ITA does not specify what these circumstances may be.