To prevent some azo dyestuffs that can change into toxic substances from harming human health, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been asking the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to consider regulating textile products that use such dyestuffs. METI has also asked the Japan Textile Federation (JTF) to make voluntary efforts to ensure the safety of textile products and have jointly been striving toward that goal. JTF has already established and implemented voluntary industry standards for ensuring the safety of textile products. These standards were disclosed to the public on March 29, 2012.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation revised its report identifying "candidate countries" for Millennium Challenge Account assistance during fiscal year 2012 pursuant to changes to the MCC’s FY 2012 appropriation as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 that redefined candidate countries. While this revision does not affect the compact or threshold program eligibility decisions made at the December 2011 MCC Board meeting, it does alter the income classification of some candidate countries.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board is issuing the following notices for April 9, 2012:
The first of a series of workshops entitled ‘‘Designing for Impact: Workshop on Building the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation” was announced by the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO), housed by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). The workshop will be April 25, 2012, and will provide a forum for the AMPNO to introduce the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) and its regional components, Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs). The workshops will also provide a forum for public discussion of the new initiative, which President Obama announced March 9, 2012. Online registration for the workshop will close April 20.
Commerce Secretary Bryson announced that he will attend the next meeting of the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation (FSECC), to be held in late June in Turkey. The FSECC is co-chaired by Bryson and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, as well as Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Babacan and Economy Minister Caglayan.
The International Trade Commission decided to review part of an administrative law judge’s January 12 final initial determination finding a violation of section 337 in its investigation of certain liquid crystal display devices, including monitors, televisions, modules, and components thereof (337-TA-741 / 749). The ALJ found a violation by Chimei InnoLux Corporation of Taiwan and InnoLux Corporation of Texas with respect to a claim of a patent held by Thomson Licensing SAS of France and Thomson Licensing LLC of New Jersey. With regard to Thomson’s other patent claims, no violations were found.
The International Trade Administration is publishing notices in the April 9, 2012, Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration issued the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on lightweight thermal paper from Germany (A-428-840) which sets an AD cash deposit rate for one manufacturer/exporter. This rate, which is effective April 9, 2012, is expected to be implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection soon.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service reports that the 6th session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food met on March 26-30 in the Netherlands, and the 27th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles met on April 2-6 in France. The Committees discussed risk analysis principles on contaminants in animal feed, and a discussion on why standards are held at Step 8 rather than adopted. Details of the meetings follow:
The Agricultural Marketing Service is announcing a meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) on May 22-25, 2012. Topics covered at the meeting will include proposals that address petitions pertaining to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List), proposals that address substances on the National List that are due to sunset in 2013, proposals that address issues on materials and excluded methods, and proposals to amend the NOSB Policies and Procedures Manual. The meeting will be open to the public. Written public comments are due by May 3. The meeting agenda, NOSB proposals, instructions for submitting and viewing public comments, and instructions for requesting a time slot for oral comments are available on the National Organic Program (NOP) website here.