The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Dec. 31 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 amending the voluntary U.S. Standards for Grades of Eggplant to allow mixed colors and/or types of eggplant, when designated as a mixed or specialty pack, in the U.S. Fancy and No. 1 grades. AMS is also removing the “Unclassified” category from the standards. The changes are effective Feb. 4.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service set the 2013 rates it will charge meat and poultry establishments, egg products plants, and importers and exporters for providing voluntary, overtime, and holiday inspection and identification, certification, and laboratory services. These rates will begin on Jan. 13, 2013, FSIS said. 2013 FSIS rates will be as follows:
The Census Bureau updated the Schedule B and Harmonized Tariff Schedules in the Automated Export System, effective immediately, to accept changes to the 2013 codes, it said. AES will accept shipments with outdated 2012 codes during a 30-day grace period beyond the expiration date of Dec. 31, Census said. Reporting an outdated code after the 30-day grace period will result in a fatal error.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Dec. 31, 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 http://1.usa.gov/VxGCVA. (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 posted the 2013 edition of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, effective Jan. 1. The new HTS implements provisions detailed in Presidential Proclamation 8921, issued Dec. 20, including the removal of African Growth and Opportunity Act beneficiary treatment for Mali and Guinea-Bissau; modifies statistical suffixes throughout the HTS; and corrects and modifies provisions governing treatment of goods entered pursuant to various free trade agreements, to give them the intended tariff treatment.
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the Dec. 31 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 International Trade Commission is asking for comments by Jan. 10 on Samsung’s Dec. 21 Section 337 patent complaint on certain wireless communication equipment and articles therein (D/N 2926). The complaint listed two Ericsson companies as respondents:
The International Trade Commission is asking for comments by Jan. 10 on Speculative Product Design’s Dec. 26 Section 337 patent complaint on certain cases for portable electronic devices. The complaint listed the following respondents:
The International Trade Administration published notices in the Dec. 31 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):