The Food Safety and Inspection Service said the Regional Committee on North America & South West Pacific (CCNASWP) is requesting comments by June 22, 2012, on national food control systems, consumer participation in food standards setting, and the use of Codex standards at the national level. Details follow:
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 Farm Service Agency issued a notice specifying the fee schedule, effective April 4, 2012, for the new Export Food Aid Commodities (EFAC) licensing agreement offered by the FSA under the U.S. Warehouse Act (USWA). Agricultural products that may be stored under an EFAC licensing agreement include, but are not limited to, corn soy blend, vegetable oil, and pulses such as peas, beans, and lentils.
Mexico's Diario Oficial of April 10, 2012, lists notices from the Secretary of the Economy as follows:
The State Department’s Shipping Coordinating Committee will conduct an open meeting April 25, 2012 at 9:30 a.m. to prepare for the 90th Session of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Marine Safety Committee at the IMO Headquarters, London, U.K., May 16 - 25, 2012. Matters to be considered include, among other things, consideration and adoption of amendments to mandatory instruments; measures to enhance maritime security; goal-based new ship construction standards; ship design and equipment; safety of navigation; and dangerous goods, solid cargoes and containers.
The International Trade Administration issued a correction to its April 2, 2012, notice of opportunity to request administrative reviews. According to the ITA, it inadvertently omitted the opportunity to request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on ammonium nitrate from Russia (A-821-811) for the period of review 05/02/11 -- 03/31/12).
Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports that Collier Bennett Harper of Lakewood, CA, is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Monday morning following his arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents for importing more than 1,000 counterfeit Microsoft Office CD-ROMs and selling them over the Internet. Taken into custody late Friday, Collier is charged in a four-count federal indictment following the seizure of two shipments of Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2007 software CD-ROMs. Specifically, the indictment charges Harper with two counts of trafficking counterfeit goods and two counts of smuggling. If convicted of all charges, Harper faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in federal prison.
The Food and Drug Administration issued its weekly Enforcement Report for April 4, 2012 that lists the status of recalls and field corrections for food, drugs, biologics, and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.
The International Trade Administration issued an affirmative preliminary determination that glycine processed by two Indian companies, Salvi Chemical Industries Limited and AICO Laboratories India Ltd., and exported to the U.S. is circumventing the antidumping duty order on glycine from China (A-570-836). The ITA also said the Indian company Paras Intermediates Pvt. Ltd. is not circumventing the order because it is producing glycine from raw materials of Indian origin and exporting such merchandise to the U.S. As a result of the comments made by the parties in the circumvention inquiry with respect to substantial transformation and country of origin, and as a result of its affirmative circumvention findings in light of prior scope determinations, the ITA is initiating a scope inquiry of Chinese-origin glycine processed into a purer grade glycine in India.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is seeking additional comments by May 10, 2012 on an existing information collection on the transfer of cargo to a container station. CBP is proposing to extend this information collection with no change to the burden hours or information collected.
Between March 21 and March 29, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of: