On May 17, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Food and Drug Administration issued its weekly Enforcement Report for May 16, 2012, that lists the status of recalls and field corrections for food, drugs, biologics, and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.
On May 17, 2012, the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Food Safety and Inspection Service revised export requirements and plant lists for the following countries for the week of May 11 through May 17, 2012:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said it's reopening the period to submit comments on its proposed rule to provide for new risk-based conditions for the importation of live bovines and products derived from bovines with regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease), published in the Federal Register on March 16, 2012. APHIS is now accepting comments until June 14, 2012. Comments on the proposed rule were originally due by May 15, 2012, but APHIS said it will accept comments that were submitted in the interim period between that date and publication of this extension of the comment period.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will begin issuing permits for the importation into the continental U.S. of fresh celery, arugula, and spinach from Colombia effective May 18, 2012, it said in a notice. APHIS said importation will be subject to the following phytosanitary measures: (1) must be imported as commercial shipments only; (2) each consignment must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Colombia, including an additional declaration for celery and spinach that each consignment has been inspected and is free of pests; and (3) each shipment is subject to inspection upon arrival at the port of entry into the continental U.S.
The State Department issued a proposed rule to revise USML Category XIII (materials and miscellaneous articles) to narrow the articles controlled on the USML, and to make this list of items more positive. At the same time, BIS is proposing the creation of five new 600 series ECCNs to control auxiliary and miscellaneous military equipment and related articles the President determines no longer warrant control under Category XIII of the USML. The State Department is also not proposing any tiering at this time, and is still developing its definition of "Specially Designed."
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 17, 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.)
In a report on improving U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s detection and deterrence of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, the Government Accountability Office urged CBP to create a policy and a mechanism for information sharing among ports regarding the use of single transaction bonds (STB) and implement a plan to systematically track and report on AD/CV duty evasion, and said the International Trade Administration should provide advance notice of issuance of liquidation instructions in order to allow CBP to better manage resources. The report, entitled “Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Management Enhancements Needed to Improve Efforts to Detect and Deter Duty Evasion”, was requested by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
Mexico's Diario Oficial of May 17, 2012, lists notices from the Secretary of the Economy as follows: