The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails April 25, 2012, 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 Food Safety and Inspection Service said the U.S. submitted comments regarding table olives to an electronic working group from the Committee on Processed Fruits & Vegetables, and issued a report on pomegranate sizing and uniformity from an electronic working group of the Committee on Fresh Fruits & Vegetables. Details follow:
The North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) released draft standard RSPM 37 on phytosanitary measures to facilitate the trade of Christmas trees, reports the Animal and Plant Health and Inspection Service. Proposed sections of the draft standard include general requirements, specific requirements for producers, requirements of the NAPPO exporting country, compliance with the importing country requirements, and non-compliance with the importing country requirements. Comments on the draft standard are due to Tyrone Jones at John.T.Jones@aphis.usda.gov by July 10, 2012.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said it will host, alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the “2012 Agriculture Stakeholder Conference: Pests Pathways, and Partnerships” on July 17-18, 2012, in Riverdale, MD. The two-day conference is to discuss the future of Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) initiatives and to garner input on how CBP and APHIS can better serve stakeholder needs. APHIS said the conference will bring together stakeholder groups representing the animal product, plant product, and shipping industries as well federal and state regulatory officials to engage in an open dialogue centered on pest exclusion efforts and trade facilitation.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a Federal Order to restrict importation of plants for planting known to be hosts of Phytophthora ramorum. Therefore, APHIS is requiring specific countries to have in place an annual pest exclusion program that incorporates monitoring, sampling, testing and a validation process to verify the absence of P. ramorum in a place of production.
The Court of International Trade affirmed, in part, the International Trade Administration’s remand redetermination in the 2006-07 antidumping administrative review of certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea (A-580-816). With respect to plaintiff-intervenor Nucor’s challenge of the ITA’s decision not to treat Korean exporters Union Steel and POSCO Group as a single entity, the only contested issue, CIT found that the ITA’s explanation of its decision in the remand redetermination was supported by record evidence and in accordance with law, and affirmed.
The Court of International Trade affirmed a voluntary remand by the International Trade Administration on the issue of fraud by plaintiff Tianjin Magnesium International, a respondent in the 2006-07 administrative review of an antidumping duty order on pure magnesium from China (A-570-832). CIT also affirmed the ITA’s decision to apply Adverse Facts Available (AFA) in determining Tianjin’s rate as a result of that fraud.
The Court of International Trade reconsidered its previous affirmance of the International Trade Administration’s use of zeroing methodology in the final results of the 2006-07 antidumping administrative review of certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea (A-580-816), and ordered the ITA to submit a second remand redetermination to address the issue of zeroing.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule, effective April 25, 2012, which amends the Export Administration Regulations by adding two persons from France to the Entity List. This rule also removes 3 entries from the Entity List, adds 4 entries to the Entity List, and amends 17 entries to provide alternate addresses, alternate spelling of names, etc. on the basis of the BIS End-User Review Committee’s (ERC) annual review of the Entity List for 15 countries1.
On April 24, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of: