The Agricultural Marketing Service is updating its table of marketing order fee assessment rates on importers of cattle, beef, veal and beef products. The agency issued a direct final rule Jan. 8 that incorporates into the table some recent changes the International Trade Commission has made to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. AMS subsequently issued a correction to some errors in that table. The new rate schedule takes effect Feb. 7.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on Jan. 16 announced that Special Import Quota #13 for upland cotton will be established on Jan. 23, allowing importation of 11,008,601 kilograms (50,562 bales) of upland cotton. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than April 21, 2020, and entered into the U.S. by July 20, 2020. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period September 2019 through November 2019, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will hold two meetings with the trade community on implementation of upcoming inspection requirements under the agreement suspending antidumping and countervailing duties on fresh tomatoes from Mexico, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed update. One of the meetings will be held in Nogales, Arizona, on Jan. 28; the other will be on Jan. 30 in Otay Mesa, California.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on Jan. 9 announced that Special Import Quota #12 for upland cotton will be established on Jan. 16, allowing importation of 11,008,601 kilograms (50,562 bales) of upland cotton, down from 12,237,111 kilograms (56,204 bales) in the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than April 14, 2020, and entered into the U.S. by July 13, 2020. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period September 2019 through November 2019, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding Serbia and Myanmar to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because they are affected by African swine fever, it said. Restrictions take effect retroactively to Aug.14, 2019, for Serbia, and to Aug. 19, 2019, for Myanmar.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on Dec. 19 announced that Special Import Quota #9 for upland cotton will be established on Dec. 26, allowing importation of 12,237,111 kilograms (56,204 bales) of upland cotton. The quota is the first announced since May (see 1905170009). It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than March 24, 2020, and entered into the U.S. by June 22, 2020. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period August 2019 through October 2019, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the 2020 rates it will charge meat and poultry establishments, egg products plants, and importers and exporters for providing voluntary, overtime and holiday inspection and identification, certification and laboratory services. Effective Jan. 5, the agency's rate schedule is as follows:
The Food Safety and Inspection Service is amending its regulations by removing lists of foreign countries eligible to export meat, poultry and egg products to the U.S., and instead using only the lists it currently maintains on its website, the agency said in a final rule. “This rule will allow FSIS to more efficiently and clearly communicate equivalence determinations by maintaining a single list of exporting countries on its website, rather than maintaining one list on the website and outdated lists in the codified regulations,” it said. “The criteria FSIS uses to evaluate whether a foreign country is eligible to export meat, poultry, or egg products has not changed.” The final rule takes effect Dec. 27.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published a list of ongoing international sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO). Comments on the standards being considered may be submitted at any time, APHIS said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is loosening requirements on importation of bovines and bovine products from Nicaragua, it said in a notice. APHIS will reclassify the country as having negligible risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, concurring with recommendations recently issued by the World Organization for Animal Health, the agency said. Nicaragua was previously classified as having controlled risk of BSE, a category for which imports face tighter restrictions.