On February 19, 2008, the European Parliament approved the European Council's proposal for a Modernized Customs Code (MCC) to simplify customs legislation and streamline European Union (EU) customs processes.
Notable CROSS rulings
In the February 20, 2008 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 42, No. 9), CBP published a notice proposing to revoke a classification ruling and treatment as follows:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a news release announcing that beginning April 1, 2008, new applicants for the southern border Free and Secure Trade Commercial Driver Program will be permitted to enroll online via CBP's Web site.
The New York Times reports that Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co.; the Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts I/E Co.; and Chemnutra Inc. of Las Vegas were recently indicted in the tainted pet food incidents that, according to Food and Drug Administration consumer complaints, resulted in the deaths of 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs. (New York Times, dated 02/06/08, available at http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/apee-pet.html?ex=1360040400&en=db6959b2932bb191&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)
On December 26, 2007, the fiscal year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law 110-161) was signed into law. P.L. 110-161 provides FY 2008 (October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008) appropriations for most Federal government agencies (except for the Department of Defense, which has a separately passed appropriation).
The Department of Homeland Security has issued a final rule to amend 6 CFR Part 37 to establish minimum standards for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards that Federal agencies would accept for "official purposes" on or after May 11, 2008, in accordance with the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-13). Such driver's licenses and identification cards intended for use for "official purposes" are referred to as REAL ID-compliant cards.
The Journal of Commerce reports that Democratic presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, weighing in on California's controversial Clean Trucks Program, are urging state officials to require that all port truck drivers be employees (rather than independent contractors). (JoC, dated 01/21/08, www.joc.com)
The Federal Communications Commission has issued a final rule, effective January 30, 2008,1 which provides a progress report on the U.S. transition from analog to digital television and includes the procedures and rule changes necessary to ensure that broadcasters timely complete their transitions. This summary focuses on the progress report.
Representative Ken Calvert has issued a press release announcing the introduction on January 23, 2008 of "Our Nation's Trade, Infrastructure, Mobility, and Efficiency Act of 2007" (H.R. 5102) in order to ease congestion in areas impacted by goods movements. Among other things, the legislation would impose a fee on each article that is imported into the U.S. that would be the lesser of: (i) .075% of the value of the article or (ii) $500. (Press release, dated 01/23/08, available at http://calvert.house.gov/. and H.R. 5102 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h5102ih.txt.pdf)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has upgraded its CBP.gov homepage. According to a CBP news release on the upgrade, this is the first in a series of upgrades designed to provide a modernized, user-friendly Web site. The new homepage features more and larger photos, a rotating news ticker and streamlined layout. Future upgrades will simplify the navigation structure and improve users' experience with second level feature pages. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/24/08 news, 08012430 1, for BP summary announcing that CBP would be updating CBP.gov.)