The Consumer Product Safety Commission has adopted, as mandatory, effective June 12, 2012, the new ASTM F963-11 toy standard. Changes made to the toy standard by the new version include revisions to the section on heavy metals (e.g., cadmium), the introduction of compositing procedures, and new safety requirements and technical guidance for bath toy projections, acoustics, and other potential safety hazards in toys. As the new standard does not reincorporate the standard for toy chests, that provision from F963-07 remains in effect.
The Food Safety and Information Service reports that the United States has responded to two Codex requests for information and comments regarding standards for processed cheese and marine biotoxins in mollusks.
The General Services Administration announced that the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) and other systems will be migrating to the System for Award Management (SAM) over the coming months. Capability will be made available to users via SAM in stages, starting in 2012 with EPLS, which is the exclusions portion of the Performance Information capability (EPLS), and the Entity Management capability (CCR/FedReg and ORCA).
The International Trade Administration announced that it has issued its quarterly update to its annual list of foreign government subsidies on articles of cheese subject to an in-quota rate of duty that were imported during the period October 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued, and is seeking comments on, the its proposed NHTSA Driver Distraction Guidelines, which cover original equipment in-vehicle device secondary tasks (communications, entertainment, navigation, etc. not required to drive) performed by the driver through visual-manual means (the driver manipulates a device-related control with the driver’s hand and watches for visual feedback). The Guidelines recommend that those in-vehicle devices be designed so that they cannot be used by the driver to perform such tasks while driving. NHTSA also specifies a test method for measuring the impact of task performance on product safety, and recommends that devices that do not meet acceptance criteria also be designed so that they cannot be used by the driver while driving. Comments should be submitted early enough to be received by the docket no later than April 24, 2012.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a final rule, effective February 27, 2014, establishing performance and other requirements for child restraint systems for children weighing 65-80 lbs. The final rule amends the Federal motor vehicle safety standard to expand its applicability to child restraints sold for children weighing up to 80 lbs, and amends the standard to incorporate use of a Hybrid III 10-year-old child test dummy (HIII-10C), weighing 78 lbs, in compliance tests of child restraints newly subject to the standard. Petitions for reconsideration of this rule must be received by April 12, 2012.
The Department of Homeland Security has released a report on its accomplishments in 2011, in connection with a speech by Secretary Janet Napolitano on the progress DHS has made that year. Among other accomplishments, the report notes that (1) the Container Security Initiative is now active at more than 50 overseas ports, and (2) the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) has grown to more than 10,200 Certified Partners worldwide.
The International Trade Administration has issued a notice on the February 10, 2012 first request by Maquilacero S.A. de C.V. for a panel review with the U.S. section of the NAFTA Secretariat regarding the final results of the 2009-10 AD administrative review of light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Mexico. The notice lists the assigned Case Number (USA-MEX-2012-1904-01) for this request and describes the NAFTA panel review process. (See ITT’s Online Archives 12011215 for summary of the ITA’s final results of AD review for light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Mexico.)
United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk has announced that the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement (KORUS) will enter into force on March 15, 2012. The agreement, among other commitments, includes steps toward agricultural and industrial tariff liberalization, obligations on non-tariff measures and intellectual property rights (IPR), and enforcement provisions. ITC sources add that the drafting of the proclamation to amend the HTS for KORUS is underway.
The American Association of Port Authorities issued a press release lauding the Obama Administration for proposing to spend $848 million from the Harbor Maintenance Fund (HMF) in FY 2013, a $90 million (12%) increase over the Administration's FY 2012 budget request. AAPA advocates for full use of the Harbor Maintenance Tax’s collections for the dredging of U.S. deep-draft navigation channels, and expressed disappointment that the request does not approach the $1.4 billion collected annually by the tax.