On July 20 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails July 20 announcing changes to some 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 Department of Defense issued a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS) to clarify that, although DoD has waived the requirement for the Canadian Commercial Corp. and its subcontractors to submit certified cost or pricing data, the requirement to submit data other than certified cost or pricing data has not been waived. The final rule revises the DFARS to, among other things: (1) raise the threshold for cost-reimbursement contracts from the simplified acquisition threshold to $700,000; (2) notify the contracting officer and the offers that in order to be eligible for award, offers must provide data necessary to determine that the price is fair and reasonable; and (3) require data other than certified cost or pricing data for modifications only when they exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. This final rule is effective July 24.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for July 23:
A southeast Texas man pleaded guilty Thursday of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit CHI hair care products, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement said. Eric White, an Internet seller of hair care products, admitted he imported and resold counterfeit CHI hair irons, which are manufactured by Farouk Systems, from April to September 2010, ICE said. White imported the counterfeit hair irons from China and sold them on the Internet through his company, Royal Cosmo. After three CBP seizures of White’s hair irons and a cease-and-desist letter from Farouk, ICE seized 147 counterfeit hair irons at White’s home in September 2010, it said. White faces up to five years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website as of July 20, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
The U.S. and other Wassenaar Arrangement countries are looking into more specific export controls on technology, said Kevin Wolf, assistant secretary for Export Administration, at a July 20 meeting of the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Emerging Technology and Research Technical Advisory Committee. According to Wolf, this work stems from disagreement between the U.S. and the 40 other Wassenaar members on the meaning of “use” in the context of the phrase “technology for the ‘use’ of…” commonly used for technology controls. “We’re really a minority of one,” said Wolf. The U.S. hasn’t adopted the definition favored by the other Wassenaar members because, as the U.S. is the only Wassenaar member with a deemed export rule, adoption would have a disproportionate effect. Instead, Wolf said, the U.S. is discussing the possibility with other Wassenaar members of tying specific technologies to the specific types of "use" that merit control.
Mexico's Diario Oficial of July 20, lists notices from the Secretary of the Economy as follows:
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the July 20 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will appear in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration published notices in the July 20 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):