Edsal Manufacturing on Aug. 26 requested new antidumping and countervailing duties on boltless steel shelving units pre-packaged for sale from China (A-570-018/C-570-019). The Chicago-based manufacturer alleges that dumped and illegally subsidized imports of the shelving units, which are used for storage in homes, garages, offices and other businesses, are injuring U.S. industry. The company says Chinese imports have increased their share of the U.S. market and depressed prices by undercutting the prices of other producers.
The antidumping duty investigations on grain-oriented electrical steel from Germany, Japan, and Poland are set to end with no duties imposed, after the International Trade Commission on Aug. 27 voted that imports of GOES from the three countries are not injuring U.S. industry. The commission split 5-1, with only new commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein voting in the affirmative. The Commerce Department will now terminate the proceeding, and order refunds of all cash deposits collected in connection with the investigation. No AD duties will be assessed on importers.
Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Aug. 27 the following voluntary recalls of imported products:
On Aug. 27 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
A NAFTA arbitration tribunal has rejected claims by a Canadian pharmaceutical exporter that the Food and Drug Administration violated the agreement by restricting imports from two of its facilities, according to a press release from the Canadian company. Apotex says an FDA import alert that prohibited imports from two Apotex facilities in Etobicoke and Signet, Canada “effectively removed Apotex from the U.S. solid-dose drug market for almost two years.” But the NAFTA tribunal found in a still-confidential ruling that the import alerts did not violate NAFTA rules, it said. The ruling will be released after a review to remove confidential information (here), said Apotex.
On Aug. 27 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Aug. 27 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is amending its fruits and vegetables regulations to recognize parts of Australia as free of certain plant pests. Effective Aug. 29, the APHIS final rule recognizes the Australian states of New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria as free of Mediterranean fruit fly. It also recognizes Western Australia as free of Queensland fruit fly.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is loosening restrictions on importing live ruminants and swine from a region in Argentina, in a final rule that takes effect Oct. 28. The final rule recognizes the Patagonia South and Patagonia North B regions as free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease. But APHIS is not completely getting rid of import restrictions on live swine and ruminants from Patagonia because of the region’s proximity to countries that are affected by the diseases, it said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration placed the insomnia drug suvorexant into Schedule IV of the Controlled Substances Act. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the drug on Aug. 13, said DEA. Effective Sept. 29, suvorexant will be subject to new registration, labeling, recordkeeping, and import and export requirements.