The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Jan. 15 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 Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing to increase its fees for voluntary dairy grading and inspection services. Fees would increase by 15 percent for fiscal year 2013, and 5 percent for FY 2014. The proposal would result in an overall cost increase of less than $0.0004 per pound of dairy product graded, said AMS. The agency has been trying to reduce costs, it said, including through systems automation, giving it the ability to employ only two staff members to issue over 20,000 export certificates in FY 2011, for example. But salary increases, inflation, and technology costs have resulted in the need to increase fees, AMS said. Comments are due by Feb. 19.
The Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) will host an Automated Export System Compliance Seminar and an AESPcLink Workshop in San Diego, Calif., Jan. 30-31, the Census Bureau said. At the seminar on Jan. 30, Census experts will cover the filing requirements of the Foreign Trade Regulations, Schedule B classification requirements, and provide an overview of AES. On Jan. 31, two AESPcLink Workshops will be conducted. More information is available here, and registration is available here.
The Court of International Trade ruled in favor of plaintiff GRK Canada in its challenge of CBP’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule Classification of its screws, arriving at General Rule of Interpretation 3(c) to do so. CBP had classified GRK’s screws under HTS subheading 7318.12.00 as “other wood screws,” dutiable at 12.5 percent. GRK protested, arguing its screws were instead correctly classified under HTS subheading 7318.14.10 as “self-tapping screws,” dutiable at 6.2 percent. CIT said the screws fit into both categories, and neither subheading more specifically describes the goods. So the tie went to the heading occurring last in numerical order per GRI 3(c), and GRK’s proposed “self-tapping screws” classification prevailed.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Jan. 15, 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.)
The International Trade Commission is asking for comments by Jan. 25 on public interest factors it should consider before issuing exclusion and cease and desist orders against Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel, in connection with its Section 337 patent investigation of certain microprocessors, components thereof, and products containing same (337-TA-781). The investigation was instituted in June 2011 on the basis of a complaint by X2Y Attenuators. In its Dec. 14 remedy recommendation, the administrative law judge recommended a limited exclusion order against subject Intel microprocessors, but that the order be delayed based on public interest factors. The ALJ also recommended extensions of the limited exclusion orders against Apple and HP to cover downstream products, and cease and desist orders against all three respondents.
Radio Systems Corp. filed a Section 337 complaint with the International Trade Commission, seeking to exclude Sunbeam Products, Inc.’s bark control collars from import into the U.S. According to RSC, Sunbeam’s “Advanced Bark Control Collar” and “Mini Bark Control Collar” infringe its patents. RSC is requested a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order prohibiting entry and sale of the bark control collars, which RSC says Sunbeam imports from China.
The International Trade Administration issued the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review of tapered roller bearings and parts thereof, finished and unfinished, from China (A-570-601). Of the five reviewed companies, only two qualified for separate rates. The ITA assigned the other three the China-wide entity rate. The new rate is effective Jan. 16, and will be implemented by CBP soon.
The International Trade Administration is proposing changes to its regulations governing extensions of time limits for submissions in antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings. The proposed rule would only allow late submissions under “extraordinary circumstances,” and would clarify that time limit extension provisions apply to all submissions, not just factual information. Comments are due by March 18.
On Jan. 14 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of: