International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories from Aug. 17-21 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is no longer planning to begin Oct. 1 enforcement of Lacey Act import declaration requirements on 29 new tariff lines, the agency announced recently in an email. The delay “will give the trade community time to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for this change,” it said. The agency said in March it planned to implement the sixth phase of Lacey Act import requirements in October (see 2003300011).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is working to streamline the application process for soil import permits, it said in an emailed bulletin. “Beginning later this summer, soil import permit applicants” using Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Form 525 “will no longer have to sign a compliance agreement for the chemical or physical analysis of regulated imported soil or imported soil for decontamination by incineration or landfill disposal,” APHIS said. “Instead, APHIS will incorporate the safeguarding requirements previously contained in these compliance agreements into the soil import permit conditions. This action will eliminate duplicate paperwork and help reduce the time it takes APHIS to issue soil import permits,” it said. APHIS will announce the start date for the new procedures in a future message, it said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will delay its deadline for ACE filing of its “APHIS Core” partner government agency (PGA) message set until January 2021, it said in an emailed bulletin June 30. APHIS had originally set a mandatory use date of Aug. 3, but “in response to stakeholder concerns about operational and economic setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, APHIS will publish a second Federal Register notice in the coming weeks that will delay implementation,” the agency said. “This action will give the trade community time to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for this change.” In the meantime, filers should continue to prepare for mandatory filing, APHIS said. The Aug. 3 deadline was set to include APHIS-regulated plants, plant products, animal products, or live dog imports, besides Lacey Act data already required in ACE, but was not going to include live animal imports, APHIS had said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service recently announced that it is establishing an Offshore Greenhouse Certification Program for greenhouse facilities located outside the U.S. “Facilities that are accepted into the program will agree to produce generally admissible unrooted plant cuttings under a systems approach to reduce pest and disease risks,” APHIS said. “In turn, shipments produced and exported under this program may receive fewer or less frequent inspections at U.S. plant inspection stations, helping to expedite clearance and entry.” Foreign greenhouses must meet minimum standards for participation related to greenhouse construction, security, production and sanitation, pest management, training and recordkeeping. “APHIS officials will physically visit and certify each facility -- at the facility’s expense -- before it may participate in the program,” the agency said. APHIS will schedule onsite visits starting in November 2020, it said. Greenhouse facilities interested in participating in the 2020-21 season should contact Karelyn Cruz at APHIS at karelyn.cruz@usda.gov by Aug. 31.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is placing new restrictions on imports of tomatoes and bell peppers from the Dominican Republic, France and Spain in response to detections in those countries of the tomato brown rugose fruit virus, it said. The agency is adding those three countries to a Federal Order it issued in March that includes certification and inspection requirements. The Federal Order is otherwise mostly unchanged, APHIS said.