U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of April 10, 2008. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, tobacco, certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly TRQ/TPL commodity report, dated 04/10/08, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/trade_programs/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/.)
The Transportation Research Board has issued a report entitled, "Special Report 290: Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation."
The .ME Registry will begin taking sunrise (trademark) applications for .me domains May 6, said back-end services provider Afilias. The virtual land rush launches in June, with first-come, first-served public registration on July 17, it said. The .ME Registry was picked by the government of Montenegro to run the domain name.
At an April 2, 2008 hearing of a House Subcommittee on Homeland Security1, Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern testified on cargo and border security issues, including the Radiation Detection Technology employed at U.S. sea and land border ports of entry.
Questions outnumbered answers in the aftermath of Philips’ surprise announcement Tuesday giving Funai responsibility for sourcing, marketing, distribution and sales of all Philips and Magnavox TVs in the U.S. and Canada. Funai will pay Philips an unspecified royalty for the exclusive use of the Philips and Magnavox TV brands under a five-year agreement that takes effect Sept. 1.
The Journal of Commerce reports that critics in the trade community have stated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection grossly underestimated the cost of compliance with 102, particularly for medium-sized and small importers, and Congressional homeland security committees question whether CBP has been thorough in its charge to work with the trade. (JoC, dated 03/17/08, www.joc.com)
In December 2007, U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a notice announcing the phased enforcement of mandatory Automated Commercial Environment electronic manifest: Truck for advance cargo information purposes at all land border ports in Alaska beginning February 11, 2008.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a final rule, effective May 2, 2008, that will amend 9 CFR Part 94 to state that uncooked pork or pork products that originated in a region considered to be free of classical swine fever (CSF) and are processed in a region where CSF exists may be imported into the U.S. under certain conditions.
The FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee on the digital transition wants the agency to set up a special fund to finance community groups’ DTV educational efforts, former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani said. The committee, to which Tristani belongs, wants money for DTV outreach by local groups, she told local telecom franchising authorities in Washington.
According to various documents posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site, the Department of Homeland Security recently announced its intent to issue two waivers of certain laws to expedite security improvements at the southwest border. Congress gave the DHS Secretary authority to waive all legal requirements necessary to expeditiously install additional physical barriers and roads at the border to deter illegal activity.