The Commerce Department published notices in the Aug. 25 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department will end its antidumping duty investigations on oil country tubular goods from the Philippines and Thailand and refund any cash deposits collected, after the International Trade Commission on Aug. 22 voted that imports of OCTG from the two countries are not injuring U.S. industry. The ITC also found imports of OCTG from five other countries -- India, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam -- are injuring or threaten to injure U.S industry, so Commerce will issue AD duty orders on OCTG from all five countries and CV duty orders on OCTG from India and Turkey. Once Commerce issues its AD/CV duty orders, Commerce will begin conducting annual administrative reviews to determine final assessments of AD and CV duties on importers, as well as five-year “sunset” reviews to decide whether U.S. industry is still injured and duties should continue.
Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Aug. 22 the following voluntary recalls of imported products:
On Aug. 22 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Food and Drug Administration is classifying hemoglobin A1c test systems as Class II devices that do not require premarket approval, in an order that codifies a classification that took effect May 23, 2013. The devices had been classified in Class III, and required the filing of a premarket approval application before distribution. Although they will no longer need FDA approval, the devices will still be subject to certain extra "special controls" related to testing and labeling. They will not be exempt from premarket notification requirements.
On Aug. 22 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
China is again accepting imports of citrus fruit from California, said the Department of Agriculture on Aug. 22. Imports of California-origin citrus had been banned by China since April 2013 following the detection of the soil fungus brown rot. Since then, USDA has worked with Chinese officials to develop a work plan to reduce the pest risk of California citrus. The U.S. and China finalized an agreement to resume exports on Aug. 3, said USDA.
A Puerto Rico-based importer and four of its executives pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to conspiring to smuggle goods into the U.S. in order to evade antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China. PRP Trading and its co-owners Armando Garcia Vazquez, Edrick Garcia Vazquez, Samuel Garcia Adarme and Carlos Minguela Ortiz participated in a scheme to transship merchandise and make it appear that Chinese-origin aluminum extrusions were instead from Malaysia, according to their guilty pleas at the Puerto Rico U.S. District Court.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Aug. 22, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.
The Drug Enforcement Agency is finalizing 2015 quotas for the manufacture and import of controlled substances Schedule I and II of the Controlled Substances Act. Substances not listed in the table included in DEA's final rule will have a quota of zero. DEA is also setting quotas for the Schedule I chemicals ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, and pseudoephedrine.