On May 16 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
On May 16 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes May 16 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 Foreign Agricultural Service published a list of updated quantity trigger levels and applicable periods for products that may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said it will hold two webinars on May 29 on proposed changes to agricultural quarantine inspection (AQI) and overtime fees at ports of entry. The briefings, one of which will start at 10 a.m. and the other at 3 p.m., “will provide a detailed overview of the changes APHIS is proposing to make to recoup the costs of conducting agricultural quarantine inspections (AQI) at U.S. ports of entry,” it said. APHIS proposed the changes to its fees in April. The proposed rule would for the first time add a $375 fee for each treatment conducted under the AQI program, including those conducted by private companies, and remove annual caps on fees for vessels and railcars (see 14042321). Registration is available (here).
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for May 19:
Wine labeling changes to accommodate a new requirement in Argentina will not need a new certificate of label approval (COLA), said the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) on May 16. The Argentine government recently required that labels on wine in Argentina, including exported wine, bear either (1) the phrase “Vino Argentino Bebida Nacional”; (2) a logo with the phrase “Vino Argentino Bebida Nacional”; or a two-dimensional barcode like a Quick Response (QR) code that provides access to a company website with the logo. TTB considers the information to be additional or optional label information, so the label still has to be truthful, but the agency isn’t requiring a new COLA.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website May 16, 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 World Trade Organization is looking into a proposal to change how software is valued when imported on certain “carrier mediums” like flash drives. Under current WTO rules, software imported on CD-ROMs and magnetic tapes is valued as the carrier medium, so software imported on a $3 CD-ROM is valued at $3 for customs purposes. Under a proposal from Uruguay currently being considered by the U.S. and other countries, the definition of “carrier medium” would be expanded to provide the same treatment for software imported on other devices, like USB keys and flash drives.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the May 16 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):