The General Services Administration has posted to its RegInfo.gov Web site the fall 2009 semi-annual regulatory agendas for Federal government agencies.
The Port of Long Beach has issued a press release stating that 8,000 dirty trucks will be banned from port shipping facilities as of January 1, 2010, marking a major milestone in the continuing transformation of the harbor trucking fleet to improve air quality. Most of the aging big-rigs are already gone, replaced by 5,600 newer, safer and cleaner models thanks to the Port of Long Beach's Clean Trucks Program. An additional 2,400 new trucks are on order and will soon be put into service. The program successfully began phasing out old trucks on Oct. 1, 2008. By January, nearly 90 percent of all trucks calling at the Port of Long Beach will meet tough 2007 federal emission standards. (Press release, posted 12/01/09, available at http://www.polb.com/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=643&targetid=1)
The Treasury Department has posted its 2009 report to Congress on the International Trade Data System. The ITDS project is an interagency effort to build an electronic "single-window" system for reporting imports and exports to the government. ITDS will allow traders to make a single electronic report, with the relevant data distributed to the appropriate agencies. (See ITT's Online Archives or 11/10/09 news, 09111010, for initial BP summary on the report) ( posted 11/23/09, available at http://www.itds.gov/xp/itds/whats_new/).
The ITDS Board has submitted its annual report on the International Trade Data System to Congress, as required by the 2006 SAFE Port Act.1 The report includes updates on the status of ITDS implementation and the status of the Automated Commercial Environment within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, among other issues.
Note that Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions does not appear in today's issue of International Trade Today. Publication of this feature will resume as new information becomes available.
Canada and India have signed two Memorandums of Understanding: (i) a MOU to launch a joint study group to formulate the parameters of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA); and (ii) a MOU on Energy Cooperation. (Notice, dated 11/17/09, available at http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do;jsessionid=ac1b105330d85644cc998b534d26a1cb804fd4c3f8a3.e38RbhaLb3qNe38TaxuMa30Sai0?crtr.sj1D=&mthd=tp&crtr.mnthndVl=&nid=496789&crtr.dpt1D=&crtr.tp1D=1&crtr.lc1D=&crtr.yrStrtVl=&crtr.kw=&crtr.dyStrtVl=&crtr.aud1D=&crtr)
Members of the International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO on November 17, 2009 ratified a two-year Master Contract extension -to September 30, 2012 - that calls for raises in pay, begins to bridge the gap for lower-tiered ILA workers, eliminates the container royalty cap and addresses the issues of jurisdiction and new technology. The ILA represents some 65,000 waterfront employees on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, the Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Eastern Canada, and Puerto Rico. (ILA 11/17/09 press release available at http://www.ilaunion.org/news_contract_ratified.html )
According to China's Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, AQSIQ and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission signed a Joint Announcement at the recent U.S.-China Consumer Product Safety Summit in which the U.S. expressed its intent to introduce a series of policies and activities in the following months to stress the responsibilities of U.S. importers as members of the supply and distribution chain, including stressing procedures to ensure product quality during manufacture and before entering the market such making sure foreign producers fully understand the requirements of U.S. government on the products. (News release, dated 11/12/09, available at http://english.aqsiq.gov.cn/NewsRelease/NewsUpdates/200911/t20091112_130452.htm)
On November 5, 2009, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano announced the final deployment of non-intrusive scanning equipment to detect radiation emanating from materials used in nuclear devices at all Northern border land ports of entry. This project was completed ahead of schedule, and finished on Oct. 29 at the Trout River, N.Y., port of entry. (Press release, dated 11/05/09, available at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1257454349707.shtm.)
At the November 4, 2009 COAC meeting, a Treasury official announced that the International Trade Data System annual report to Congress has been issued. According to Treasury, the report contains recommendations that could help mitigate the effect of ACE delays on ITDS program. For example, the report recommends that CBP could begin to collect ITDS information for other agencies through the Automated Broker Interface, and then make the data available through the ACE data warehouse. See future issues of ITT for additional details of COAC meeting and ITDS report. (Report, dated September 2009, available at http://www.itds.gov/xp/itds/whats_new/)