The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is set to require filing of its “core” partner government agency (PGA) data in ACE beginning Aug. 3, 2020, the agency said in a notice. “On that date, APHIS intends to begin applying Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) flags, which will alert filers who opt to submit data electronically whether APHIS import data is or may be required. Importers or brokers using ACE must enter APHIS-required import data when they receive an APHIS-specific HTS flag in order to complete their entry in the system,” APHIS said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding the Philippines to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because it is affected by African swine fever, it said. Restrictions take effect retroactively to Sept. 17, 2019.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to remove restrictions on importation of unshu oranges from Japan, it said in a notice. The agency will now allow importation of unshu oranges from Shikoku or Honshu without the previously required fumigation with methyl bromide. APHIS will also allow importation Unshu oranges from Kyushu into all U.S. ports. The changes take effect Jan. 31.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding Serbia and Myanmar to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because they are affected by African swine fever, it said. Restrictions take effect retroactively to Aug.14, 2019, for Serbia, and to Aug. 19, 2019, for Myanmar.
CBP issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 18-22 in case they were missed.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published a list of ongoing international sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO). Comments on the standards being considered may be submitted at any time, APHIS said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has created a webpage with information on new requirements for importation of tomatoes and peppers to prevent the introduction of tomato brown rugose fruit virus. Effective Nov. 22, APHIS is setting new inspection and certification requirements for tomatoes and Capsicum peppers from Canada, Mexico, Israel, and the Netherlands, as well as certification requirements for tomato propagative materials from all countries.
Partner government agencies list several new regulations on their lists of upcoming rulemakings in the Fall 2019 Unified Agenda. The Food and Drug Administration says it intends to propose new recordkeeping requirements for high-risk foods, and again lists proposed rules to revise written assurance requirements under its Food Safety Modernization Act regulations. The Fish and Wildlife Service intends to expand its list of ports designated for importation of wildlife, and the Commerce Department is set to modify its licensing requirements for steel imports to monitor transshipment through Canada and Mexico.
CBP will perform more inspections on “imported tomato and pepper fruit, seed lots and transplants entering at all U.S. ports of entry beginning Friday, Nov. 22, to prevent the introduction of Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus and protect the multi-billion dollar U.S. tomato and pepper production industry," the agency said in a news release. The increased inspections are a result of a Nov. 15 federal order from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The federal order restricts "imports of tomato and pepper seed lots and transplants from all countries as well as restrictions on tomato and pepper fruit consignments imported from Mexico, Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands," CBP said. APHIS will require that "all imported tomato and pepper seed lots along with other propagative plant materials be tested and/or certified free of the disease" and "all tomato and pepper fruit commercial shipments imported from Mexico, Israel, Canada and the Netherlands to be inspected and certified free of disease symptoms." According to a notice from CBP's Laredo, Texas, field office posted by a local brokers association, "the order will increase inspections and document verifications at time of entry from Mexico, Canada, Israel, and Netherlands."