On June 8 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Codex Committee for Asia (CCASIA) requested comments from Codex members and interested international organizations on a proposed draft regional standard for tempe, a compact, white, cake-form product prepared from dehulled boiled soybeans through solid state fermentation with Rhizopus spp., said the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Comments on the U.S. response are due by Sept. 7 and should be sent to USCodex@fsis.usda.gov. International organizations may send their comments directly to the Codex Secretariat (codex@fao.org), with a copy to Dr. Takako Yano, Secretary for the CCASIA, ccasia@nm.maff.go.jp by September 15. The circular letter containing the proposed draft regional standard is available here.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service amended the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow imports of tomatoes from the member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) into the continental U.S., effective July 12. As a condition of entry, tomatoes from ECOWAS will be subject to a systems approach that includes requirements for pest exclusion at the production site, fruit fly trapping and monitoring, and procedures for packing the tomatoes, APHIS said. The tomatoes will also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of the exporting country, APHIS said, with an additional declaration that the tomatoes have been produced in accordance with these requirements.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reopened the comment period on its January 24, 2011, interim rule that prohibited or restricted the import of bird and poultry products from regions where any subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza is considered to exist. The interim rule also imposed restrictions on imports of live poultry and birds that have been vaccinated for certain types of avian influenza, or that have moved through regions where any subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza is considered to exist.
The International Trade Administration announced a partnership with Cintermex, a trade show organizer in Monterrey, Mexico, to coordinate export promotion training with Cintermex’s clients. The ITA said Cintermex will identify Nuevo Leon companies keen on sourcing to the U.S., and work to jointly develop trade fairs that match targeted industry sector buyers from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board announced details of another outreach event July 17 to provide training and enable discussion about the new FTZ regulations in Chicago. At the event, FTZB will provide general training open to anyone, including grantees, and will cover a range of provisions of the new regulations in the first session. A second outreach session for officials of grantee organizations will focus on regulatory provisions that have a direct impact on the grantee role. RSVPs are required by July 13.
The Census Bureau released its report on “Ownership Characteristics of Classifiable U.S. Exporting Firms: 2007,” which details selected economic and demographic characteristics of U.S. businesses and their owners by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. The report was compiled from the 2007 Survey of Business Owners, which is part of the Census Bureau's five-yearly Economic Census, and the 2007 Profile of U.S. Exporting Companies, which is an annual database of commingled U.S. exports and business characteristics compiled from Electronic Export Information filed through the Automated Export System, received from Canada through the Data Exchange, or by paper Shipper's Export Declarations. Full report is available here. Highlights of the report are available here.
The Census Bureau added two new International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) Exemption Codes to the Automated Export System, effective immediately, it said in AES Broadcast #2012037. The codes added are:
A $6.3 million settlement was reached Monday to resolve claims that companies misclassified auto parts manufactured in China and imported to the U.S. to evade $2.5 million in duties, said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Six companies from the U.S. and China, as well as two named individuals, allegedly violated the False Claims Act by knowingly misclassifying auto manifolds to obtain a duty rate of zero, ICE said, while charging its customers the correct duty of 2.5%, and retaining as "profit" the duty that should have been paid to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Between June 2004 and June 2011, the U.S. alleged that the company evaded $2,549,000 worth of duties on 706 entries involving manifolds valued at $102 million.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's web site as of June 8 along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://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.)