USTR announced that the U.S. and Japan concluded two days of consultations, ending February 22, 2012, related to Japan’s interest in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. This meeting was a follow-up session to the senior-level consultation with Japan held on February 7, 2012.
Dave Camp (R-MI) and Kevin Brady (R-TX), Chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and Trade Subcommittee, respectively, as well as Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, lauded the U.S. Trade Representative’s announcement of a March 15, 2012 effective date for the Korea-U.S. trade agreement. All three congressmen also urged action on entry into force of the Panama and Colombia FTAs. Senator Hatch noted that he would carefully scrutinize implementation of KORUS to ensure that Korea upholds its end of the agreement. Hatch further urged President Obama to request the renewal of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has adopted, without change, its 2011 proposed rule to amend its regulations at 19 CFR Part 10 to allow 314 days (rather than 90 days) after the date of entry for the filing of the State Department Certification needed for auditory and visual materials to qualify for duty-free treatment under HTS 9817.00.40.1 This new rule is effective March 23, 2012.
The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition to initiate a rulemaking applicable to fishing tackle containing lead. In its explanation for the denial, EPA stated that the petition, filed on November 17, 2011, and denied in a letter from EPA dated February 14, 2012, failed to demonstrate that federal action is necessary, considering that: (1) wildlife exposure to lead fishing tackle has a regional context and the states where risk of injury is greatest are largely the states that have taken action to address the risks; (2) the market for fishing tackle continues to change and the prevalence of non-lead alternatives in the marketplace continues to increase; and (3) the petitioners did not provide evidence that the risk from lead fishing tackle outweighs the burden to society of potential regulations.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has adopted, as mandatory, effective June 12, 2012, the new ASTM F963-11 toy standard. Changes made to the toy standard by the new version include revisions to the section on heavy metals (e.g., cadmium), the introduction of compositing procedures, and new safety requirements and technical guidance for bath toy projections, acoustics, and other potential safety hazards in toys. As the new standard does not reincorporate the standard for toy chests, that provision from F963-07 remains in effect.
The Food Safety and Information Service reports that the United States has responded to two Codex requests for information and comments regarding standards for processed cheese and marine biotoxins in mollusks.
The General Services Administration announced that the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) and other systems will be migrating to the System for Award Management (SAM) over the coming months. Capability will be made available to users via SAM in stages, starting in 2012 with EPLS, which is the exclusions portion of the Performance Information capability (EPLS), and the Entity Management capability (CCR/FedReg and ORCA).
The International Trade Administration announced that it has issued its quarterly update to its annual list of foreign government subsidies on articles of cheese subject to an in-quota rate of duty that were imported during the period October 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued, and is seeking comments on, the its proposed NHTSA Driver Distraction Guidelines, which cover original equipment in-vehicle device secondary tasks (communications, entertainment, navigation, etc. not required to drive) performed by the driver through visual-manual means (the driver manipulates a device-related control with the driver’s hand and watches for visual feedback). The Guidelines recommend that those in-vehicle devices be designed so that they cannot be used by the driver to perform such tasks while driving. NHTSA also specifies a test method for measuring the impact of task performance on product safety, and recommends that devices that do not meet acceptance criteria also be designed so that they cannot be used by the driver while driving. Comments should be submitted early enough to be received by the docket no later than April 24, 2012.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a final rule, effective February 27, 2014, establishing performance and other requirements for child restraint systems for children weighing 65-80 lbs. The final rule amends the Federal motor vehicle safety standard to expand its applicability to child restraints sold for children weighing up to 80 lbs, and amends the standard to incorporate use of a Hybrid III 10-year-old child test dummy (HIII-10C), weighing 78 lbs, in compliance tests of child restraints newly subject to the standard. Petitions for reconsideration of this rule must be received by April 12, 2012.