The House Energy and Commerce Committee has posted a section-by-section analysis of a draft bill, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2008. (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/28/08 news, 08042810, for BP summary of the draft bill.) According to Committee sources, the draft legislation is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks. (Section-by-section analysis of draft bill (dated 04/23/08) available at http://energycommerce.house.gov/FDAGlobalAct-08/FDA.Discussion.Draft.Section-by-Section.pdf)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a press release announcing that the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) has released "Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3 (SAP 4.3): The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States." The CCSP integrates the federal research efforts of 13 agencies on climate and global change. (Press Release No. 0136.08, dated 05/27/08, available at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/05/0136.xml.)
The Treasury Department has posted the remarks by Special Envoy for China and the Strategic Economic Dialogue Holmer on the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue and sustaining economic growth. (Remarks, dated 05/21/08, available at http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/hp992.htm)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a press release on the recent "Success through Partnership" conference jointly held by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Senate Finance Chairman Baucus recently criticized Korea's decision to again delay lifting Korea's ban on U.S. beef products. According to press reports, Korea will delay implementation of a new protocol struck by the U.S. and Korean governments last month, which would have resumed U.S. beef exports to Korea and ended Korea's 5-year ban on U.S. beef products. (Finance Committee press release, dated 05/14/08, available at http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2008press/prb051408a.pdf)
On May 15, 2008, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee ordered favorably reported with amendments S. 2997, a bill to reauthorize the Maritime Administration (MARAD), and for other purposes. (S. 2997 details available at
According to a U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel Textile Development Memo, the House and Senate conferees that are working on a compromise Food and Energy Security Act of 2007 (aka the Farm Bill), are expected to include provisions that would extend the U.S.-Caribbean Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) for two years and extend for ten years and expand the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act. (USA-ITA TDM, dated 05/01/08, www.usaita.com.)
The General Services Administration has posted to its RegInfo.gov Web site the Spring 2008 semi-annual regulatory agendas for Federal government agencies.
The World Shipping Council's President Koch recently stated before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that a decision not to proceed with the "10 plus 2" initiative could easily raise more difficult supply chain security strategy questions than what the trade faces today. Koch stated that the most significant questions about 10 plus 2 won't be its format or the length of its implementation phase-in period, but the strategic question of whether and how CBP intends to improve its advance cargo risk assessment capabilities. (Hearing statement, dated 04/02/08, available at http://www.worldshipping.org/testimony_house_approps_homeland_security_subcommitee_42008.pdf)
The Justice Department has issued a press release stating that Japan Airlines International Co. has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $110 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy in the U.S. and elsewhere to fix rates for international cargo shipments to and from the U.S. and elsewhere from April 1, 2000 to February 2006. (The DOJ states that similar pleadings and fines have occurred with British Airways, Korean Air Lines, and Qantas Airways Limited). (DoJ, dated 04/16 /08, http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/April/08_at_302.html )