The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released its 2007 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE), which is an annual report documenting foreign trade and investment barriers and U.S. actions to reduce and eliminate those barriers.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a proposed rule that would amend 16 CFR Part 1610, Standard for the Flammability of Clothing Textiles (Standard), to better reflect current consumer practices and technologies and to clarify several aspects of the Standard.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a proposed rule that would add a new section 101.91 to 21 CFR in order to define the term "gluten-free" for voluntary use in the labeling of foods. FDA has also issued a "Questions and Answers" document on the proposed rule.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a final rule that requires manufacturers to label portable generators with carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning warning labels which contain performance and technical data related to performance and safety.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting comments by 10 a.m. on February 12, 2007 regarding whether any foreign countries should be identified under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act) (19 USC 2242), which is commonly referred to as the "Special 301" provisions of the Trade Act.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a proposed rule that would amend its regulations governing foreign and domestic drug establishment registration and listing for human drugs, including drugs that are regulated under a biologics license application, and animal drugs. Among other things, FDA's proposed rule would require electronic submission of all registration and most listing information rather than the current practice of submitting this information on paper forms.
On October 13, 2006, President Bush signed into law the conference version of H.R. 4954, entitled the "Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006" (SAFE Port Act), a measure intended to improve maritime and cargo security through enhanced layered defenses, and for other purposes.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule, effective January 9, 2007, that will require that manufacturers and processors of human food and cosmetics that are manufactured from, processed with, or otherwise contain, material from cattle establish and maintain records sufficient to demonstrate that the human food or cosmetic is not manufactured from, processed with, or does not otherwise contain, prohibited cattle materials.
The Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a final rule, effective August 28, 2006, amending 7 CFR Part 319 to allow pink and red tomatoes grown in approved registered production sites in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to be imported into the U.S. under certain conditions.
On July 29, 2006, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4, the Pension Protection Act of 2006. According to a Textile Development Memo (TDM) from the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA), H.R. 4 contains Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) fixes, a continuation of the Wool Trust program, a "new shipper" provision, etc. See future issues of ITT for additional details on H.R. 4. (House Ways and Means Committee press release, dated 07/29/06, available at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news.asp?formmode=release&id=419; USA-ITA TDM, dated 07/31/06, www.usita.com.)