The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued an interim rule that provides for the implementation of Phase II of the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Technology Program (US-VISIT), effective September 30, 2004.
Telecom carriers Tues. continued cleanup and service restoration efforts in southern Fla. and continued assessing the damage caused by Hurricane Frances. They also were keeping a wary eye out for tropical storm Ivan, building in the Atlantic. BellSouth said Frances knocked out 775,000 lines, about 13.1% of its 5.9 million Fla. lines. BellSouth said 45% of the downed lines, 343,000, were in the counties hardest hit by the hurricane -- Indian River, Martin, Palm Beach and St. Lucie. Orange and Brevard counties were next hardest hit, with 209,000 lines lost. The rest of the outages were scattered across Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. BellSouth said it brought in 400 repair technicians from other states to help in the restoration effort. BellSouth said repair work was being affected by downed trees and structures, downed poles and lack of electric power. It said crews were working 12-hour shifts. BellSouth said its crews also were working to replenish backup power supplies at its central offices and remote switches. Sprint said it lost about 175,000 land lines and has dispatched extra crews to make repairs. Comcast said its phone service in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe Counties was affected but gave no details. Comcast said it was able to find trouble spots on its network, but not the drops to individual premises. It urged customers to contact it if their drops were severed. Sprint also said its wireless service was impaired by Frances but gave no estimate of how many sites went out. Sprint said it would give wireless customers who lost service because of the storm a 10% credit on their monthly recurring charge if they contact the company. It also will credit roaming charges customers incur because of Frances. Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless said they each lost about 15% of their cell sites to the storm. Verizon Wireless said it was hit hardest in the Orlando area, Vero Beach and the barrier islands off the coast. Verizon Wireless said it had deployed 28 mobile transmission units on trucks and trailers to temporarily fill in coverage gaps from the cell sites that went down in the storm, and to boost network capacity in the areas where residents and rescue workers must rely on cellphones. It said it will bring more portable units into affected areas the next few days. Cingular said it deployed 150 emergency generators to support cell sites that were running out of battery power and may bring in up to 400 more generators from other states. In addition, Cingular said it has 40 mobile transmitter units to replace damaged cell sites and expand capacity where needed. Cingular said efforts to restore normal service were hampered by the widespread utility power outages.
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that a decision by union longshoremen not to work on Labor Day could cause a labor shortage at the port of Los Angeles - Long Beach, throwing these ports into crisis mode due to record volumes of vessels in the port complex. The article notes that these ports have been struggling with port congestion due largely to delays in the intermodal rail network and a shortage of dockworkers. Port employers had asked the union to be available to work on Labor Day. (Joc Online, dated 09/01/04, www.joc.com )
TIA published a new standard, “Terrestrial Land Mobile Radio -- Antenna Systems -- Standard Format for Digitized Filter Characteristics, Addendum 1” or TIA-929- 1. “Standard TIA-929 is intended to provide a standard format for manufacturers of antenna system filters for the terrestrial land mobile radio industry to adhere to,” TIA said. “It was motivated by the fact that many manufacturers are only now considering providing their filter data in digital format and that a single standardized format would make user software development simpler, assure consistent usage of such data and facilitate data accuracy through a robust, common data format.” TIA also released the standard “Land Mobile Radio Transceiver Recommendations, Project 25 -- Digital Radio Technology, C4FM/CQPSK Modulation.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release stating that China has assured both the USTR and USDA that new Chinese import regulations will not interfere with trade in U.S. soybeans and other commodities. (USTR Press Release, dated 08/26/04, available at http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2004/August/USTR_USDA_Receive_Assurances_from_China_on_Soybean_Shipments.html)
Inmarsat is considering legislative alternatives in the event the FCC rules unfavorably on its ORBIT Act compliance, said CEO Andrew Sukawaty. The company asked the FCC to determine that its ownership by private equity firms and its offering of debt securities are compliant with the ORBIT Act. Sukawaty said he had no indication of the FCC’s progress on the filing except that it’s still under consideration. He didn’t describe the legislative options or other alternatives he said the company was pursuing. Satellite industry officials said Inmarsat could either pursue further extension of its IPO deadline to June 30, 2005, or it could lobby Congress to completely remove the IPO requirement. Previously Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R- Mont.) said he “always had serious reservations” about mandating an IPO deadline but there hasn’t been time to consider eliminating the IPO requirement from the ORBIT Act (CD April 13 p8). Sukawaty said only 0.5% of the company’s revenue (associated with U.S. terminals for land-based services) would be impacted if the company were found not compliant with the Act: “The immediate impact is fairly minimal, but we want to be licensed for land-based services in the U.S… We believe we've met the letter and intent of the Act.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message regarding the following QP/WP in-bond processing changes:
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that during the week which began on August 16, 2004, the World Shipping Council asked the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to allow replies in response to supplemental comments asking the FMC to expeditiously provide a conditional tariff publication and enforcement exemption for non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs). (JoC Online, dated 08/18/04, www.joc.com )
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a August 2004 version of its document entitled, "Compliance Summary Information: Prior Notice."
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has posted to its Web site a revised "Joint FDA-CBP Plan for Increasing Integration and Assessing the Coordination of Prior Notice (PN) Timeframes" (FDA/CBP Joint Plan).