Shippers' NewsWire reports that in his speech accepting the Democratic Party's nomination for president, John Kerry opined that the U.S. should not be letting 95% of container ships come into U.S. ports without being physically inspected, and stated that if in office, he would strengthen homeland security by possibly requiring closer scrutiny for more imports of ocean containers. (American Shipper, dated 07/30/04, ShippersNewsWire@americanshipper.com)
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS') Web site has updated its tables which list information on trade bans imposed by foreign countries on U.S. exports due to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and avian influenza (avian flu).
Washington Trade Daily reports that House and Senate lawmakers left Washington D.C. on July 23, 2004 for a six-week break without appointing conferees for the FSC/ETI legislation to repeal the Extraterritorial Income Tax Exclusion. The article notes that the EC's trade sanctions, which increase 1% each month, will rise twice before Congress returns from its summer recess. (WTD dated 07/27/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com )
On July 22, 2004, both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed H.R. 4842, the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act. (See future issue of ITT for additional details on H.R. 4842 and the U.S.-Morocco FTA.)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have announced three rulemakings to further strengthen existing safeguards that protect consumers against the agent that causes Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on June 18, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss and receive updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials on various trade and customs issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that its most recent Harmonized System (HS) update contains:
According to an article in the American Shipper, the insurance market is wary of issuing customs bonds for Chinese agricultural shipments due to an epidemic of fraud by importers of some agricultural goods (e.g. mushrooms, crawfish tail meat, honey and fresh garlic) from China seeking to avoid high U.S. antidumping duties. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/13/04 news, 04071305 for BP summary of new CBP guidelines for bonds for agriculture/aquaculture goods subject to antidumping duties.) (American Shipper 07/04)
On July 14, 2004, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4759, implementing legislation for the U.S.-Australia free trade agreement (FTA). The Senate then passed H.R. 4759 on July 15, 2004. (Information on H.R. 4759 is available at http://thomas.loc.gov.)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have issued a press release announcing three actions being taken to further strengthen existing safeguards that protect consumers against the agent that causes Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.