On May 17, the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing to increase the assessment collected from producers and importers of blueberries from $12 to $18 per ton, an increase of $0.003 per pound. The additional Blueberry Promotion, Research and Information Order funds would allow the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council to expand its health research activities and promotional efforts, AMS said. Comments are due by July 19.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for May 20:
The Census Bureau sent out AES Broadcast 2013040 as part of a series of monthly educational broadcast messages on fatal errors in the Automated Export System. This month Census is highlighting AES error codes 133 (Port of Export Must Be An Air Port) and 623 (2nd Unit of Measure Code / Schedule B/HTS Mismatch). The broadcast covers the reasons for these error messages and how to resolve them, as follows:
The D.C. federal District Court dismissed PRP Trading’s attempt to gain release of several shipments of aluminum extrusions it contends were mistakenly seized for lack of country of origin markings. The Court of International Trade had transferred the case to the District Courts in October, after finding it had no jurisdiction because the shipments had been seized before PRP Trading filed suit (see 12100331). But according to the D.C. court, PRP Trading requested the case be transferred to the wrong district -- it should have brought suit in Puerto Rico -- and in any case the company didn’t complete all required actions at the administrative level before CBP.
The Court of International Trade’s decision on CBP enforcement of patent exclusion orders in Corning Gilbert v. U.S. will stand, after the U.S. government withdrew its appeal May 15. In February, CIT ordered CBP to admit coaxial cable connectors imported by Corning Gilbert, but found by CBP to be subject to an International Trade Commission general exclusion order for patent infringement, and excluded from entry into the U.S. (see 13020405). Corning Gilbert was not a party to the ITC Section 337 investigation that resulted in the general exclusion order, and so the ITC never specifically found that the company’s connectors infringed the relevant patents. Because there was no ITC finding that was directly applicable, and CBP should have undertaken a thorough analysis of whether Corning Gilbert’s connector in particular violated the patents covered by the general exclusion order, the court said. The government's motion did not include detail on why it was withdrawing its appeal. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the government motion May 16.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website May 17, 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 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 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a proposed overhaul of its regulations on forfeiture procedures for plants and plant products under the Endangered Species Act and Lacey Act. The proposed rule would increase the threshold for referral to federal court to $15,000, and would provide for recovery of costs related to APHIS storage of seized merchandise. The rule would also conform the regulations to the requirements of the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000. Comments on the proposed rule are due by July 22.
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the May 17 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 Commerce Department published notices in the May 17 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):