Notable CROSS rulings

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site an updated version of its document entitled "User Fee Decals and Transponders."

CBP has posted to its Web site a notice announcing a "weekly" special import quota of 23,276,125 kg for upland cotton purchased not later than December 26, 2006 and entered under HTS 9903.52.25. The quota period is September 28, 2006 through March 26, 2007; the opening date is September 28, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, or its equivalent in other time zones.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a direct final rule that effective November 6, 2006, will amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 8(a) Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) regulations to allow, for the first time, the electronic submission of information over the internet, through the EPA's Central Data Exchange (CDX).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release announcing the formation of a new office that will consolidate CBP's trade policy, program development, and compliance measurement functions into a single Office of Trade.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued an interim rule which will amend 7 CFR Parts 319 and 354, effective November 24, 2006, by removing the exemptions from agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) user fees for commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international air passengers, which enter the U.S. from Canada.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted its new Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) minimum-security criteria for rail carriers, which are effective as of August 29, 2006.

U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the State Department have issued a proposed rule that would implement the first stage of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), in order to require U.S. citizens and nonimmigrant aliens from Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico to present a valid passport, with certain limited exceptions, when entering the U.S. from countries within the Western Hemisphere.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted the following to its Web site:

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective June 5, 2006, amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) at 15 CFR Parts 736 and 744 to impose a General Order on Mayrow General Trading and its related entities.

In the May 31, 2006 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 40, No. 23), CBP issued a notice revoking two classification rulings on HyperD chromatography sorbents. CBP states that it is also revoking any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions.