The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Aug. 21 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.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Special Import Quota #2 for upland cotton that will be established on Aug. 28, allowing importation of 14,741,821 kilograms (67,709 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Nov. 25, and entered into the U.S. by Feb. 23, 2015. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally-adjusted average rate for the period March through May, the most recent three months for which data are available.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is finalizing a regulatory exemption for bulk export shipments of apples to Canada from minimum quality marking and inspection requirements. AMS had issued an interim final rule in April (see 14040315). Only shipments in containers holding more than 100 pounds are exempt.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Aug. 21, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.
A court challenge may be brewing on CBP’s controversial decision to prohibit the filing of protests to claim duty preferences under several free trade agreements, say customs lawyers. A lawsuit could soon be brought by an importer denied the ability to claim preferences by the new policy, although that would require the importer have enough money at stake to justify filing suit, said several lawyers. Another lawyer proposes that importers and trade groups band together to challenge the policy in its entirety as an illegally-issued regulation. Pressure against the change could also come from countries with agreements that are affected by the change, as well as smaller importers that make their voices heard at CBP headquarters.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the Aug. 21 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department published notices in the Aug. 21 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty 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 Commerce Department is amending its preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation on crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from Taiwan (A-583-853), after finding several errors in a notice it issued at the end of July. The changes result in lower AD duty cash deposit rates for subject merchandise exported by Motech and the "all others" companies (i.e., all exporters except Motech and Gintech).
Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Aug. 20 the following voluntary recalls of imported products:
On Aug. 20 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports: