The International Trade Administration issued a fact sheet on May 20, 2012 announcing its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping investigations of certain stilbenic optical brightening agents from China and Taiwan (A-570-972 and A-583-848, respectively). According to the ITA's fact sheet, the final AD rates for China range from 63.98% to 109.95%, and the final AD rate for Taiwan for both the only respondent and all other producer/exporters is 6.2%.
The International Trade Administration issued a fact sheet on March 20, 2012 announcing its affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty investigation of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules from China (C-570-980). According to the ITA’s fact sheet, the mandatory respondents Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd. and Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co., Ltd. received preliminary CV rates of 2.9% and 4.73%, respectively. All other Chinese producer/exporters received a preliminary CV margin of 3.61%. As a result of the preliminary determination, the ITA will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect a cash deposit or bond based on these preliminary rates.
On March 20, 2012, the Senate voted twice and did not get enough votes to add an Export-Import Bank reauthorization amendment to H.R. 3606, the “Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011.”1 The amendment would have reauthorized the Ex-Im Bank through September 30, 2015, required it to promote textile and apparel component exports, banned certain Iran assistance, and reviewed domestic content guidelines.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced that the National Defense Stockpile Market Impact Committee, co-chaired by the Departments of Commerce and State, is seeking public comments by April 19, 2012, on the potential market impact of a proposed supplement to the Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Materials Plan. The Defense Logistics Agency proposes to establish three new material research and development projects involving cadmium zinc tellurium (CZT) substrates, trichlorobenzene (TCB), and rhenium alloy.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a reminder that U.S. firms are required to submit their calendar year 2011 annual reports on offsets agreements related to sales of defense articles or defense services to foreign countries or foreign firms by June 15, 2012. Reports are required to contain information on: (1) contracts for the sale of defense articles or defense services to foreign countries or foreign firms that are subject to offsets agreements exceeding $5,000,000 in value; and (2) offsets transactions completed in performance of existing offsets commitments for which offsets credit of $250,000 or more has been claimed from the foreign representative.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a final rule amending the packaging and labeling control provisions of the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) regulations for human and veterinary drug products. The final rule amends 21 CFR Part 211 by limiting the application of special control procedures for the use of cut labeling to immediate container labels, individual unit cartons, or multiunit cartons containing immediate containers that are not packaged in individual unit cartons.
The Food and Drug Administration is posting filer evaluation outcomes online, prospectively, starting from the beginning of fiscal year 2012, to help increase the accuracy of the information submitted to FDA and the accountability among the actors in the supply chain. This list will be updated monthly, and FDA will post the most recent outcome for each filer. The FDA states that, because this list is prospective, and updated monthly, interested parties should not make any inferences with regard to the status of filers that do not have filer evaluation outcomes posted on this site.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products that may be considered technical barriers to trade. Broker Power delays its publication of these postings for 2 - 3 weeks as there is often a delay until NIST makes the text of the regulations available.
On March 13, 2012 the Coast Guard denied a petition to amend the regulations concerning foreign-rebuilt determinations for vessels entitled to a coastwise trade endorsement. The Coast Guard denied the petition because, among other reasons, (i) a settled understanding of the regulation now exists due to court decisions, (ii) the proposal would result in onerous new requirements for any applicant seeking to have work done at a foreign shipyard, and (iii) the proposed amendments would make the Jones Act inconsistent with national treatment obligations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
According to the International Trade Commission, a section 337 patent complaint on certain food waste disposers and components and packaging was filed on behalf of Emerson Electric Co. on March 16, 2012. The proposed respondent is: