The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the names of five individuals in Colombia and Ecuador whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to Executive Order 12978, "Blocking Assets and Prohibiting Transactions With Significant Narcotics Traffickers," effective June 10, 2010.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing correcting amendments to its June 4, 2010 final rule which clarified language regarding certain performance criteria of turning machines, among other things. BIS corrects the NS Column number under ECCN 2B001, and inserts quotation marks around "APP" in the Technical Note on Adjusted Peak Performance.
On June 14, 2010, in San Francisco, California, the U.S. Trade Representative and agency partners across the Obama Administration hosted the first day of the second round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. The round began with a plenary meeting of all negotiators present from the eight TPP partner countries. The opening plenary was an overview of goals for the week’s talks: determining a framework for market access negotiations and the relationship between the TPP agreement and pre-existing FTAs, and defining a path forward on so-called “horizontal” issues including small business priorities, regulatory coherence, competitiveness, supply chains, development, and regional integration. Negotiators also discussed the amount of progress they hope to make this week in order to be in a position to begin drafting text before the third round of TPP talks in October.
The State Department announces that the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua has proposed to extend its agreement with the U.S. concerning the imposition of import restrictions on archaeological material from the pre-Hispanic cultures of Nicaragua, and possible additional restrictions on certain ethnological material.
The Department of Defense's Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and Defense Acquisition Regulations Council have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation to add Taiwan to the list of World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement designated countries.
The Federal Maritime Commission announces the filing of an amendment to an agreement of the Pacific Maritime Association concerning assessments to pay International Longshore and Warehouse Union employee benefit costs, which revises how the man-hour base assessment will be calculated. Comments are due by June 28, 2010.
After a meeting with offiicals from Antigua and Barbuda, the State Department announced its launching of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative in response to increasing rates of crime and violence in the region. $45 million has been identified for this year and $79 million in the President’s budget for next year has been requested to train and professionalize security forces, boost anti-trafficking efforts, and promote citizen safety partnerships.
Various U.S. government agencies are seeking comments on the following information collections for which they have requested or intend to request Office of Management and Budget approval or extension of approval (see notices for specific details):