The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and CBP should reconsider its maximum Agricultural Quarantine Inspection fees for truck cargo, and APHIS should begin charging fees for treatment, permits, and monitoring services, said the Government Accountability Office. AQI fees don’t currently cover all of the costs of the program, with CBP having to rely on funds from its salaries and expenses budget line to make up the difference, said GAO in its report, “Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Fees.” Other measures that would help include collection of fees for vehicle, bus, vessel, aircraft, and rail passengers, and accurate reporting of AQI-related activities by CBP, the report said.
Following the withdrawal of most requests for Competitive Need Limitation waivers in the 2012 Generalized System of Preferences review, the International Trade Commission said it’s ending its investigations on the economic impact of the withdrawn CNL requests. The U.S. Trade Representative notified the ITC of the withdrawal of 11 out of 12 CNL requests originally included in the 2012 GSP review Feb. 21. All other aspects of the ITC’s GSP investigation remain unchanged, including the April 4 deadline for submission of the final report to USTR.
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the March 1 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 Administration published notices in the March 5 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 issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review of polyester staple fiber from China (A-570-905) for two companies, both of which were preliminarily assigned the China-wide rate. Huvis Sichuan Polyester Fiber Ltd. received a separate rate in a previous review, but didn't submit a separate rate certification in this one, the ITA said. Affiliated companies Far Eastern Industries (Shanghai) Ltd. and Far Eastern Polychem Industries have never received a separate rate and didn't submit a separate rate application. The ITA also rescinded this review for seven companies for which review requests were withdrawn.1 These preliminary results are not in effect. The ITA may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated AD cash deposit rate for this company.
The International Trade Administration preliminarily determined that some tissue paper products exported to the U.S. from India by A.R. Printing and Packaging India are circumventing the antidumping duty order on certain tissue paper products from China (A-570-894). According to the ITA, some of the tissue paper exported during the inquiry period was actually of Chinese origin, and ARPP only performed minor processing.
The International Trade Administration and Mexican tomato growers finalized an agreement to avert resumption of an antidumping duty investigation of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. The suspension agreement raises minimum prices for Mexican tomatoes, and puts new enforcement measures in place. More than 600 Mexican growers and exporters are signatories. Imports of fresh tomatoes for processing are not covered.
During the week of Feb. 25 - March 3, the Food and Drug Administration modified the following existing Import Alerts (not otherwise listed on the FDA's new and revised import alerts page) on the detention without physical examination and/or surveillance of:
On March 4 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes March 4 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.