On June 7-10, the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes June 10 to 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 Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for June 11:
Agreements to limit rail carrier liability must be explicit and in writing, and not just adopted by reference in a bill of lading, said the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, as it sent back down a lower court’s ruling. The Eastern North Carolina District Court had ruled that CSX was only liable for $25,000 of the $550,000 in damage to shipper ABB’s electrical transformer that occurred in transit from St. Louis to Pittsburgh. The bill of lading associated with the shipment had been drafted by ABB instead of CSX, and in any case referenced a CSX “tariff” that limited carrier liability to $25,000, the district court reasoned. Therefore, it met an exception to the Carmack Amendment’s strict requirement for rail carriers to bear full liability for damages to goods in transit. But the appeals court said the identity of the drafter of the bill of lading is irrelevant for Carmack Amendment purposes, and incorporation of a tariff by reference does not meet the written agreement standard for waiving liability set forth in the law.
The Food and Drug Administration submitted its required timeline for seven Food Safety Modernization Act regulations, including the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, to the Northern California U.S. District Court on June 10. The proposal sets goals for publication, or “target timeframes,” for issuing the FSMA-required proposed and final rules. The court had ordered the timeline after finding FDA violated FSMA deadlines for the regulations, but left it up to FDA and the Center for Food Safety to establish the specifics (see 13042402). The Center for Food Safety opposed FDA’s proposed approach in its own June 10 submission, arguing that the court order required concrete dates.
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the June 10 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will appear in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department published notices in the June 10 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty 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 final determination in the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on hardwood plywood from China (A-570-986 / C-570-987) are due Sept. 16, said the Commerce Department in a correction to a June 3 correction of its preliminary determination. The June 3 notice errantly said the agency was extending the deadline by 50 days, when it is actually extending it by the maximum of 60 days.
The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on stainless steel plate in coils from Belgium (A-423-808). The agency used an alternative average-to-transaction methodology to compare Aperam Stainless Belgium's home sales to its U.S. sales, which may have barely pushed the company's preliminary AD rate above the 0.5 percent de minimis threshold. These preliminary results are not in effect. Commerce may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated AD cash deposit rate for this company.
The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on pure magnesium from China (A-570-832). The agency determined an AD rate for Tianjin Magnesium Metal (TMM), and found that the company is affiliated with another company, referred to as "company A" in the preliminary results, whose identity is currently confidential. Commerce told TMM that, because of its finding that the two companies are affiliated, TMM now has to disclose the identity of company A. If TMM doesn't do so, Commerce will assign it a rate based on adverse facts available, it said. These preliminary results are not in effect. Commerce may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated AD cash deposit rate for this company.