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.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel has issued monthly reports containing official December 2011 trade data from the Census Bureau for U.S. imports and exports of cotton, wool, man-made fiber (MMF), silk blends, and non-cotton vegetable fiber textile and apparel products.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service reports that a Codex physical working group (pWG) will be meeting to discuss principles and guidelines for national food control systems.
The International Trade Administration is amending the final results for its recently published antidumping duty administrative review of citric acid and certain citrate salts from China (A-570-937) in order to correct an error in the AD cash deposit rate for Yixing Union Biochemical Co., Ltd. The amended rate, which is officially effective February 21, 2012, is expected to be implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection soon.