Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) traveled to Russia during February 17-21, 2012 to meet with senior government officials and discuss economic, trade, and foreign affairs issues, including Russia’s impending WTO accession, and to pursue new trade opportunities for U.S. businesses, ranchers and farmers. According to his office, Baucus, along with his fellow trade leaders in Congress, has insisted on holding Russia to a high standard through the WTO accession process to guarantee that American ranchers, farmers, workers, and businesses benefit. WTO members formally invited Russia to join the WTO in December 2011.
Brian Feito
Brian Feito, Managing Editor, International Trade Today, Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. A licensed customs broker who spent time at the Department of Commerce calculating antidumping and countervailing duties, Brian covers a wide range of subjects including customs and trade-facing product regulation, the courts, antidumping and countervailing duties and Mexico and the European Union. Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason University. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2012.
The International Trade Administration announced that President Obama appointed two new private sector members to the President’s Export Council on February, 17, 2012. The two new members are Dr. Gary W. Loveman of Caesars Palace and Denise Morrison of Campbell Soup Company. See ITA press release here.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an interim final rule, effective March 1, 2012, regarding its expanded access to the records of persons that manufacture, process, pack, transport, distribute, receive, hold, or import food, as authorized by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Comments on the interim final rule are due by May 23, 2012. The FDA intends to finalize the interim rule one year from the close of the comment period.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes to its Phytosanitary Certificate and Issuance Tracking (PCIT) system. PCIT will begin automatically transferring phytosanitary certificates to foreign countries receiving U.S. exports, reducing previous delays associated with paperwork verification. In addition, APHIS is expanding the availability of user-printed phytosanitary certificates, eliminating the need for users to pay for shipped documents.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that the final draft report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Dietary Exposure Assessment Methodologies for Residues of Veterinary Drugs, which took place in Rome, Italy, from November 8-11, 2011, is now available on the web here and here. Comments on the report should be sent to both Philippe Verger (vergerp@who.int) and Masami Takeuchi (Masami.Takeuchi@fao.org) by March 15, 2012.
USTR announced that the U.S. and Japan concluded two days of consultations, ending February 22, 2012, related to Japan’s interest in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. This meeting was a follow-up session to the senior-level consultation with Japan held on February 7, 2012.
Dave Camp (R-MI) and Kevin Brady (R-TX), Chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and Trade Subcommittee, respectively, as well as Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, lauded the U.S. Trade Representative’s announcement of a March 15, 2012 effective date for the Korea-U.S. trade agreement. All three congressmen also urged action on entry into force of the Panama and Colombia FTAs. Senator Hatch noted that he would carefully scrutinize implementation of KORUS to ensure that Korea upholds its end of the agreement. Hatch further urged President Obama to request the renewal of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has adopted, without change, its 2011 proposed rule to amend its regulations at 19 CFR Part 10 to allow 314 days (rather than 90 days) after the date of entry for the filing of the State Department Certification needed for auditory and visual materials to qualify for duty-free treatment under HTS 9817.00.40.1 This new rule is effective March 23, 2012.
The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition to initiate a rulemaking applicable to fishing tackle containing lead. In its explanation for the denial, EPA stated that the petition, filed on November 17, 2011, and denied in a letter from EPA dated February 14, 2012, failed to demonstrate that federal action is necessary, considering that: (1) wildlife exposure to lead fishing tackle has a regional context and the states where risk of injury is greatest are largely the states that have taken action to address the risks; (2) the market for fishing tackle continues to change and the prevalence of non-lead alternatives in the marketplace continues to increase; and (3) the petitioners did not provide evidence that the risk from lead fishing tackle outweighs the burden to society of potential regulations.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has adopted, as mandatory, effective June 12, 2012, the new ASTM F963-11 toy standard. Changes made to the toy standard by the new version include revisions to the section on heavy metals (e.g., cadmium), the introduction of compositing procedures, and new safety requirements and technical guidance for bath toy projections, acoustics, and other potential safety hazards in toys. As the new standard does not reincorporate the standard for toy chests, that provision from F963-07 remains in effect.