Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls March 20 (country of manufacture in parentheses):
The Environmental Protection Agency established an exemption, effective March 22, to the tolerance for residues of banda de Lupinus albus doce (BLAD) in or on all food commodities, when applied as a fungicide and used in accordance with label directions and good agricultural practices. BLAD is a naturally occurring polypeptide in sweet lupines (Lupinus albus). Objections to the final rule and requests for hearings are due by May 21.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued its periodic status report on Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) premanufacture notices (PMN), test marketing exemption (TME) applications, and notices of commencement (NOC) received from companies that intend to import or manufacture new chemicals. Comments are due by April 22, and must be identified by PMN or TME number. The status report covers the period from Dec. 1, 2012, to Jan. 11, 2013. See EPA’s notice for the list of PMNs, TMEs, and NOCs received by the agency.
On March 20 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 March 20 that lists the status of recalls and field corrections for food, drugs, biologics, and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.
On March 20 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes March 20 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 Court of International Trade dismissed a challenge to CBP’s extensions of the liquidation deadline on entries of citric acid from India and the Dominican Republic. CBP and ICE had been investigating possible transshipment of citric acid from China through India and the Dominican Republic to evade antidumping and countervailing duties. Plaintiffs Chemsol and MC International argued that the investigation was inactive because CBP and ICE had not requested new information from the companies, and so CBP was unjustified in its extensions. But the court said CBP was within its rights to extend the liquidation deadlines, because CBP isn’t restricted to seeking more information only from the investigated companies.
The Court of International Trade sustained CBP’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification of plaintiff Link Snacks’ beef jerky, ruling that the product was correctly classified in the HTS subheading for cured beef. Link Snacks had argued that beef jerky is defined by the drying process used in its manufacture, not the curing process. The court was sympathetic to Link Snacks’ argument, but in the end found that it could not go against the plain meaning of the terms in the HTS.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website March 20, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)