The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Jan. 3 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 Food Safety and Inspection Service revised export requirements and plant lists for the following countries for Dec. 28 - Jan. 3:
The Foreign Agricultural Service amended the availability of credit guarantees for sales of U.S. agricultural commodities under the Commodity Credit Corporation's Export Credit Guarantee Program (GSM-102) for fiscal year 2013, for Turkey (here).
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Jan. 2, 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 Commerce Department released its fall 2012 Unified Agenda, setting out its regulatory plans for fiscal year 2013. Scheduled rulemakings include the Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Regulations rewrite, as well as numerous proposed and final rules relating to Export Control Reform. In FY 2012, the Bureau of Industry and Security issued nine of the 12 final rules planned in the fall 2011 Unified Agenda, and three of seven proposed rules. Census had only planned to issue its FTR rewrite final rule, and did not do so in FY 2012.
InterDigital filed a petition for a patent investigation at the International Trade Commission, seeking to exclude for patent infringement wireless devices with 3G and/or 4G capabilities, as well as components of these devices, manufactured by several major wireless device companies, including Samsung, Nokia, ZTE and Huawei. According to the complaint, the devices at issue may operate as cellphones, cellular PC cards, cellular USB sticks, mobile internet devices with cellular capabilities (including personal computers), cellular hotspots, and cellular modems. InterDigital is seeking a limited exclusion order barring entry of infringing products into the U.S., as well as cease and desist orders.
The International Trade Administration published notices in the Jan. 3 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 Administration found hospital bed end panel components imported by Medline Industries to be within the scope of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890). The company requested out-of-scope status for the merchandise because of its intended use in hospitals, and because it's an integral part of metal beds that are explicitly excluded by the scope. The ITA, needing to rely only on the factors enumerated in 19 CFR 351.225(k)(1), said those facts are irrelevant to the question of whether the end panel components are in-scope.
Interested parties wishing to participate in the International Trade Commission’s countervailing duty injury investigation of frozen warmwater shrimp from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam must file entries of appearance by Jan. 11, said the ITC in its institution of the investigation. Petitions for countervailing duties on shrimp from the seven countries were filed at the ITC and International Trade Administration Dec. 28. Frozen warmwater shrimp from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam are already subject to antidumping duty orders issued in 2005.
The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to five foreign device manufacturers in Europe and Asia, detailing various violations of current good manufacturing practices and Medical Device Reporting regulations. The warned companies include TMS International (here) of the Netherlands; Energist Limited of the U.K. (here); Meridian AG of Switzerland (here); Hangzhou Jinlin Medical Appliances of China (here); and Tianjin Hanaco Xingda Medical of China (here). Energist was also ordered to cease and desist marketing in the U.S. of its “Ultra Plus VPL for ‘skin rejuvenation’” because it is allegedly being marketed for unapproved uses.