The International Trade Administration published notices in the Oct. 4 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Commission issued a proposed rule that would change the discovery provisions of its Rules of Practice and Procedure for Section 337 patent investigations. The proposal would limit discovery of electronically stored information, allow an administrative law judge to limit discovery in certain cases, and add new provisions on privileged information and attorney work product. The ITC said the proposal would reduce expensive, inefficient, unjustified, or unnecessary discovery practices in agency proceedings. Comments on the proposed rule are due Dec. 4.
On Oct. 4 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Food and Drug Administration issued its weekly Enforcement Report for Oct. 3 that lists the status of recalls and field corrections for food, drugs, biologics, and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.
In cooperation with law enforcement, customs, and regulatory authorities from 100 countries, the Food and Drug Administration took action against more than 4,100 Internet pharmacies selling unapproved drugs to consumers, it said. The overall effort resulted in the shutdown of more than 18,000 illegal pharmacy websites and the seizure of about $10.5 million worth of pharmaceuticals worldwide. FDA’s actions included civil and criminal charges, seizure of illegal products, and removal of offending websites, it said.
The Food and Drug Administration postponed re-registration for facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for human or animal consumption in the U.S. The biennial re-registration, which was required by the Food Safety and Modernization Act, was set to begin Oct. 1 and run until Dec. 31. FDA postponed the re-registration because it is still working to finalize related guidance documents, an FDA spokeswoman said. FDA is considering extending the Dec. 31 deadline and will announce its decision in the near future, she said. Check FDA's website at access.fda.gov at a later date to be informed when re-registration becomes available.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for Oct. 4:
The International Trade Administration extended to Oct. 12 the deadline for applications to participate in its trade mission to South Africa and Zambia. The original deadline was Oct. 5. The ITA invited sectors including: electric power and energy efficiency technologies, equipment and services; productivity enhancing agricultural technologies and equipment; transportation equipment and infrastructure; mining equipment and technology; and water. (See ITT’s Online Archives 12052541 for the ITA’s original notice, and 12081330 for the addition of the water sector to the trade mission.
The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Oct. 3-9. The weekly report contains data on container availability for westbound transpacific traffic at 18 intermodal locations in the U.S.1 from the eight member carriers of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA).2 Although the report is compiled by AMS, it covers container availability for all merchandise, not just agricultural products.
In connection with the Department of Justice’s investigation into a network that illegally exported microelectronics to Russia for use by the Russian military and intelligence services, the Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 164 persons under 165 entries to the Entity List. The additions consist of one person under Belize; 13 persons under Canada; two persons under Cyprus; one person under Estonia; 11 persons under Finland; five persons under Germany; one person under Greece; two persons under Hong Kong; one person under Kazakhstan; 119 persons under Russia; two persons under Sweden; and seven persons under the United Kingdom, including six persons located in the British Virgin Islands.