The Codex Committee on Europe (CCEURO) established an electronic Working Group (eWG) to develop a proposed draft regional standard for Ayran (a fermented yogurt-based beverage), said the Food Safety and Inspection Service. The eWG is led by Turkey. CCEURO Member countries and Codex observer organizations interested in participating should contact the Codex Contact Point for Turkey (nilfer.altunbas@hotmail.com, berkan@panaromaturizm.net and kodeks@tarim.gov.tr).
The Food Safety and Inspection Service launched the Label Submission Approval System (LSAS), which will allow electronic submission of label applications, will flag application submission errors that could delay the approval process, and will allow users to track the progress of their submission. FSIS said the LSAS will will streamline the agency’s review process for meat, poultry, and egg product labels.
The Department of Defense must now report to relevant congressional committees 15 days before issuing a waiver of the prohibition on acquisition of U.S. Munitions List (USML) items from Chinese military companies, according to a DoD final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) at 48 CFR Part 225 to implement the requirement in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. The regulation previously required notification to the congressional defense committees within 30 days after the date of the waiver.
The Department of Defense adopted as final, effective May 22, 2012, a December 2011 interim rule (as amended in March 2012) that amended the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to provide that photovoltaic devices to be utilized in performance of any covered contract shall comply with the Buy American statute, subject to the exceptions provided in the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 or otherwise provided by law, to implement a section of the FY 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The Department of Defense issued two interim rules, both effective May 22, 2012, amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA) and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), respectively. Comments on both interim rules are due by July 23, 2012.
The Department of Defense issued an interim rule, effective May 22, 2012, amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement requirements of the U.S.-U.K. Defense Trade Treaty and its implementing legislation. The Treaty and statute establish an approved community that includes members of the U.S. government and the government of the U.K.
The Census Bureau issued AES Broadcast #2012034 as part of a series of monthly educational broadcast messages on the Automated Export System. This month Census is highlighting AES error codes 073 (Shipment Cannot be Canceled) and 088 (Line On File, Action Not Allowed). The broadcast covers the reasons for these error messages and how to resolve them. Email documents@brokerpower.com for a copy of the May 21, 2012, broadcast.
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 May 21, 2012, 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.)
Mexico's Diario Oficial of May 21, 2012, lists notices from the Secretary of the Economy as follows:
The International Trade Commission voted to institute an investigation of certain electronic devices having a retractable USB connector (337-TA-843). The products at issue in this investigation are devices with retractable USB connectors such as cameras, camcorders, digital audio recorders, MP3 players, wireless modems, and flash memory drives.