The Office of Textiles and Apparel has issued monthly reports containing official April 2011 trade data from the Census Bureau for U.S. imports and exports of textiles and apparel.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published a notice of the following voluntary recalls on June 10, 2011:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted the June 10, 2011 remarks of Chairman Tenenbaum at the Brazil-U.S. Consumer Product Safety Conference during which CPSC signed an agreement with its Brazilian counterpart, INMETRO. The agreement establishes the following points of understanding: (i) investment in training and quality assurance systems at all levels is essential to ensuring a high level of product safety; (ii) the increasing share of consumer products coming from other countries calls for closer bilateral cooperation; (iii) enhanced cooperation can contribute significantly to the protection of consumer health and safety; (iv) the flow of information on rulemaking activities should be improved, and where feasible, the agencies will cooperate on enforcement activities and the exchange of experience, data, and scientific findings; and (v) the agencies will continue training and outreach activities.

On May 20, 2011, the National Organic Program released a policy memorandum to stakeholders and interested parties on the labeling of textiles that contain organic ingredients. According to the memo, any textile product produced in full compliance with the NOP regulations (7 CFR 205) may be labeled as NOP certified organic and can display the U.S. Department of Agriculture organic seal. Additionally, textile products that are produced in accordance with the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) may be sold as organic in the U.S. but may not refer to NOP certification or display the USDA organic seal.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published a notice of the following voluntary recall on June 8, 2011:

Consumer Product Safety Commission staff have provided a status report on its work with ASTM in developing voluntary consensus standards for candles and candle products. It provides a discussion of the most recent available incident data and a summary of current industry activities and compliance actions.

The United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel announces that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Apparel Coalition has organized a workshop on Apparel Supply Chains in TPP Countries on June 17, 2011 in Ho Chi Minh City. Topics include an overview of the apparel sector in the TPP region -- exports, imported and domestic inputs, volume, value, trading partners, and trends; comparison of apparel provisions in U.S., ASEAN, and other FTAs; exploration of various rules of origin; etc. RSVPs are due by June 15.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced its weekly meeting on June 15, 2011 in which the staff briefs the Commission on various compliance matters. The meeting is closed to the public and the agenda is confidential.

Commissioner Nord of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has expressed disappointment that her colleagues have again chosen to forgo funding a cost benefit analysis of the proposed "15 month" rule for testing and certification (which includes requirements for reasonable testing programs, compliance testing, continuing testing, certification labeling, etc.) as it is one of the most significant rules ever promulgated by CPSC. She also expressed concern that the agency was choosing not to fund requests for certain lab equipment, but instead spend money on certain public awareness campaigns. The remarks concern CPSC's mid-year FY 2011 budget review.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notices of the following voluntary recalls on June 7, 2011: