The Commerce Department has posted comments by Secretary Locke at the 2010 District Export Council (DEC) Conference, in which he discusses the new DEC-100 pilot program which asks the DECs to work with an additional 2-to-5 export companies under the President's National Export Initiative (NEI). Locke also discusses Commerce efforts to help U.S. companies reach new markets, grow their businesses, and hire new workers in order to expand exports.
The U.S. Council for International Business will be holding seminars on the new incoterms (Incoterms® 2010) that take effect on January 1, 2011.
The Treasury Department has announced the designation of 37 front companies based in Germany, Malta, and Cyprus and five Iranian individuals for being owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its affiliates. This action, taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13382, targets IRISL's complex network of shipping and holding companies and executives and further exposes Iran's use of its national maritime carrier to advance its illicit weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program and to carry military cargoes.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sapiro and Moroccan Minister of Foreign Trade Maazouz met in Marrakesh on October 26, 2010, during the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa. The meeting focused on how the U.S. and Morocco can energize the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement in a way that is mutually advantageous for both countries.
FSIS has issued the following notices:
The National Marine Fisheries Service announces the availability of a five-year review of the U.S. Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata), in which NMFS recommends that it remain listed as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA).
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final rule, effective November 29, 2010, which amends specific provisions in the 2009 Final Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting rule to correct certain technical and editorial errors that have been identified since promulgation and to clarify and update certain provisions that have been the subject of questions from reporting entities. These final changes include additional information to better or more fully understand compliance obligations, corrections to data reporting elements so they more closely conform to the information used to perform emission calculations, and other corrections and amendments.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has updated its Specially Designated Nationals list to add five individuals and thirty-nine entities pursuant to non-proliferation designations.
The International Trade Administration's U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service is organizing a multi-sector trade mission to Mexico, April 5-12, 2011, in conjunction with the Trade Winds Forum -- The Americas. Trade mission participants will take part in business-to-business meetings in one or two of three select markets in Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. Applications are due by February 11, 2011.
The Justice Department announced that SB Pharmco Puerto Rico Inc., a subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline, PLC (GSK), has agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to the manufacture and distribution of certain adulterated drugs made at GSK’s now-closed Cidra, Puerto Rico, manufacturing facility. The resolution includes a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $150 million and a civil settlement under the False Claims Act and related state claims for $600 million.