The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a report entitled, Textiles and Apparel: Assessment of the Competitiveness of Certain Foreign Suppliers to the U.S. Market.
According to Washington Trade Daily, negotiations are ongoing for the following proposed free trade agreements (FTAs): U.S. Central-American (ongoing with Dominican Republic; completed with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), Free Trade Area of the Americas, U.S.-Southern African Customs Union, U.S.-Morocco, U.S.-Bahrain, U.S.-Thailand, U.S.-Andean nations, and U.S.-Panama. The article also states that the U.S.-Australia FTA has already been negotiated and is pending implementation. (WTD dated 02/14/04-02/15/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com)
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on February 6, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss, and receive updates from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials on, various customs and trade issues.
Broker Power has previously reported that effective from February 2, 2004 through April 30, 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is detaining and requesting production documents for, or sending to a laboratory for testing, importations of socks from at most 22 targeted countries.
WTO News states that the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Council has given Cambodia another six months (to March 31, 2004) to ratify its membership agreement and join the WTO. (WTO News, dated 02/11/04, available at http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news04_e/gc_cambodia/11Feb04_.e.htm
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has amended its final results of the countervailing (CV) duty administrative review of stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from South Korea for the review period of January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2001.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) is amending its antidumping (AD) duty order, as well as its final and amended final affirmative AD duty determinations, on certain non-frozen apple juice concentrate from China as there is now a final and conclusive court decision affirming the ITA's remand determinations for this investigation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made available a list of 71 frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding the State Department's control of exports. As this list of questions appears to have been posted in April 2002, some questions may be outdated. (State Department questions, dated 04/02, available at http://www.cbp.gov/ImageCache/cgov/content/export/documents_5flicenses_5frequirements/qstate_2epdf/v1/qstate.pdf.)
In December 2003, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a notice announcing that the 2004 annual $125 user fee that is assessed for each permit held by an individual, partnership, association, or corporation is due by February 27, 2004.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has posted to its Web site information on a series of public meetings that will provide an overview of the FDA's October 10, 2003 interim final rules on the registration of food facilities and the prior notice of imported food shipments.