The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is requesting comments by May 7, 2012, on its risk analysis and draft phytosanitary measures for the importation into the continental U.S. of fresh litchi, longan, and rambutan fruit from the Philippines, which is currently not allowed. After reviewing the comments, if the overall conclusions of the risk analysis and the Administrator’s determination of risk remain unchanged following APHIS’ consideration of the comments, then APHIS will authorize the importation of fresh fruit of litchi, longan, and rambutan from the Philippines into the continental U.S.
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 Agricultural Marketing Service released a letter to industry representatives saying country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations will remain in force and that the U.S. Department of Agriculture strongly supports the U.S. Trade Representative’s appeal in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to defend its existing COOL regulations. Under COOL, retailers must give their customers information about the origin of various food products, including fruits, vegetables, fish and shellfish and meats. The final COOL regulations became effective March 16, 2009. AMS is responsible for the implementation, administration and enforcement of the COOL regulations.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation revised its report identifying "candidate countries" for Millennium Challenge Account assistance during fiscal year 2012 pursuant to changes to the MCC’s FY 2012 appropriation as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 that redefined candidate countries. While this revision does not affect the compact or threshold program eligibility decisions made at the December 2011 MCC Board meeting, it does alter the income classification of some candidate countries.
The first of a series of workshops entitled ‘‘Designing for Impact: Workshop on Building the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation” was announced by the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO), housed by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). The workshop will be April 25, 2012, and will provide a forum for the AMPNO to introduce the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) and its regional components, Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs). The workshops will also provide a forum for public discussion of the new initiative, which President Obama announced March 9, 2012. Online registration for the workshop will close April 20.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service reports that the 6th session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food met on March 26-30 in the Netherlands, and the 27th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles met on April 2-6 in France. The Committees discussed risk analysis principles on contaminants in animal feed, and a discussion on why standards are held at Step 8 rather than adopted. Details of the meetings follow:
Mexico's Diario Oficial of April 9, 2012, lists notices from the Secretary of the Economy as follows:
To prevent some azo dyestuffs that can change into toxic substances from harming human health, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been asking the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to consider regulating textile products that use such dyestuffs. METI has also asked the Japan Textile Federation (JTF) to make voluntary efforts to ensure the safety of textile products and have jointly been striving toward that goal. JTF has already established and implemented voluntary industry standards for ensuring the safety of textile products. These standards were disclosed to the public on March 29, 2012.
The Food and Drug Administration said TWI Foods Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is voluntarily recalling Crispy brand cookies and Rusk, a hard crisp bread. According to the FDA, the affected products contain almonds and/or milk, two of the eight most common allergens, which are not clearly declared on the label. The Canadian-manufactured cookies products were sent to 28 U.S. distributors in 15 states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington.
The International Trade Commission decided to review part of an administrative law judge’s February 2012 final initial determination finding no violation of certain claims of patents held by Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. in its investigation of certain reduced ignition proclivity cigarette paper wrappers and products containing same (337-TA-756). The remaining respondent1 is Julius Glatz GmbH / LIPtec GmbH / KneX Worldwide LLC.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board announced two outreach events to provide training and enable discussion about the new FTZ regulations in Houston on May 17, 2012. In the first session, FTZB will provide general training open to anyone interested in attending, including grantees, and will cover a range of provisions of the new regulations. A second outreach session will be for officials of grantee organizations, and will focus on regulatory provisions that have a direct impact on the grantee role. RSVPs are required by May 14, 2012, to attend the outreach events. The FTZB also said it's planning similar events in San Diego on September 13, and will post details on its website soon.