Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., introduced a bill meant to prevent "imports of fraudulent organic products that undercut American farmers," she said in a news release. The Organic Farmer and Consumer Protection Act would require that all National Organic Program Import Certificates include information on "the organic standard to which the agricultural product is certified," among other things. The bill would also require the Agriculture Secretary to create a system to track organic import certificates, which may be added "into any existing information tracking systems for imports of agricultural products." The Agriculture Department would also have to publicly release "detailed quantitative data on imports of organically produced agricultural products accepted
into" the U.S.. The legislation also calls for information sharing between ACE and the Hypomania Certificate Issuance and Tracking System of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The bill follows industry concerns and press reports related to cheap imports improperly labeled as organic (see 1705150031).
With CBP expected to allow for multiple options for filing Section 321 entries, some significant uncertainty remains for how the partner government agencies will treat goods imported at values under the $800 de minimis threshold, said Lenny Feldman, a lawyer with Sandler Travis. Still, there have been some indications for what to expect from the PGAs on the issue, he said. "Goods that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulate would seem to be excluded from section 321 processing because the customs regulations already mention alcohol and tobacco as exceptions to de minimis processing," Feldman said in a May 20 email. Pharmaceuticals and medical devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration also seem unlikely to receive Section 321 filing exemptions, he said.
The Trump administration looks set to continue its focus on deregulation, judging by its recently released Spring 2018 unified regulatory agenda. Regulatory agencies with a hand in trade laid out their plans to harmonize and streamline regulatory requirements, including on Lacey Act implementation, a modernized seafood inspection program and an update to Toxic Substances Control Act chemical data reporting requirements. On the other hand, regulatory plans also include enforcement measures, including procedures for Commerce scope rulings during CBP investigations of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion and increased oversight over organic imports.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is looking into reports of delayed U.S. log exports into mainland China, the International Wood Products Association said in an email. "We understand that Chinese authorities are excluding shipments of raw logs that were previously allowed to be fumigated upon arrival in China or Hong Kong," the association said. The IWPA and others in the industry discussed the issue with APHIS on a May 9 call, it said. "As part of their ongoing discussions with their Chinese counterparts to address these delays, APHIS staff has asked IWPA" and others to compile reports from exports of logs with bark to China on successful and excluded shipments as of May 2. Such information should go to Tyrone Jones at APHIS at John.T.Jones@aphis.usda.gov by May 11.There have been recent reports of new non-tariff barriers in China on products from the U.S. (see 1805040054).
CBP has not received word from any other partner government agencies (PGAs) that they intend to make their ACE filing requirements mandatory in 2018, a CBP official said on the agency’s biweekly ACE call held May 10. The official spoke in response to a question on whether any more PGAs will become mandatory by the end of the year, focusing on Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) “core” requirements in particular. The CBP official cautioned that, while CBP hasn’t heard anything to her knowledge, it doesn’t mean PGAs can’t in the future notify the agency of their intent to become mandatory.
A federal court recently rejected an attempt by a Canada-based importer to get its rejected corn shipment released by CBP and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. In an order dated April 20, the Eastern California U.S. District Court denied Sunrise Foods’ motion for a temporary restraining order for a shipment of corn purportedly from Turkey but later found to be of Russian, Moldovan and Kazakhstani origin. The court found Sunrise could not have been suffering too much, given the month it waited before requesting the TRO.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to loosen requirements on importation of bovines and bovine products from Poland, Croatia, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it said in a notice. APHIS intends to reclassify the four countries as having negligible risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, concurring with recommendations recently issued by the Organization for Animal Health, the agency said. Poland, Croatia, Scotland and Northern Ireland are currently classified as having controlled risk of BSE. Imports of bovines and bovine products from countries with controlled BSE risk face tighter restrictions. Comments are due June 25.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to amend its regulations on the importation of peppers from South Korea to change certain requirements, it said. The proposed rule would increase the mesh size of the screening over vent openings in South Korean greenhouses from 0.6 mm to 1.6 mm, and require the use of colored sticky traps as an additional measure for pest monitoring. The change in mesh size was requested by the South Korean government. Comments on the proposal are due June 19.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to allow imports of fresh cape gooseberry fruit from Ecuador, it said in a proposed rule. Shipments would have to come from pest-free places of production and be put in labeled boxes prior to shipping. Gooseberry that does not meet these conditions would still be able to be imported but would be subject to treatment. Comments on the proposed rule are due June 19.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to amend its regulations on branding requirements for bovines imported into the U.S. from Mexico, it said. The proposed action, requested by Mexico, would simplify and enlarge brands on imported bovines. “The changes we are proposing would help prevent inconsistencies in branding that can result in bovines being rejected for import into the United States,” APHIS said. Comments are due June 11.