The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Special Import Quota #1 for upland cotton that will be established on Aug. 21, allowing importation of 14,741,821 kilograms (67,709 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Nov. 18, and entered into the U.S. by Feb. 16, 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 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is setting new requirements for the importation of dogs, in a final rule that takes effect Nov. 17. The new regulations prohibit the importation of dogs into the continental U.S. or Hawaii for purposes of resale, research, or veterinary treatment, unless the dogs are in good health, have received all necessary vaccinations, and are at least six months of age. An import license will be required, along with health and vaccination certificates. Certain dogs imported for veterinary treatment are exempt from health, vaccination and age requirements, and dogs from British Isles, Australia, Guam, or New Zealand may be imported into Hawaii even if less than six months old.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for Aug. 15:
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey submitted an application to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to reorganize FTZ 49 under the Alternative Site Framework, and expand the zone to cover the entire area in Northern New Jersey that lies within its port district. Under the reorganization, the zone's service area would cover all of Hudson County, as well as parts of Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Union, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris and Somerset Counties, New Jersey. The proposed reorganization under the Alternative Site Framework would streamline processes for the designation of new FTZ subzones and usage driven sites within that service area by allowing companies to request zone status through the relatively simple "minor boundary modification" process. Comments on the application are due by Oct. 17.
Antidumping duty rates for eight exporters of multilayered wood flooring from China (A-570-970) look like they may change again, after the Court of International Trade on Aug. 14 granted a request for voluntary remand from the Commerce Department. In response to a series of court rulings, Commerce had revised the rates it assigned during the original investigation to “separate rate” Chinese exporters that had demonstrated eligibility for their own AD rates but were too numerous to be individually investigated (see 14040104). But just after it was to submit its latest recalculation, Commerce had a change of heart and now wants to look into the possibility of giving individual AD rates to Fine Furniture (Shanghai); Changzhou Hawd Flooring Co., Ltd.; Dunhua City Jisen Wood Industry Co., Ltd.; Dunhua City Dexin Wood Industry Co., Ltd.; Dalian Huilong Wooden Products Co.; Kunshan Yingyi-Nature Wood Industry Co., Ltd.; Armstrong Wood Products (Kunshan) Co., Ltd.; and Karly Wood Product Limited. The court ordered Commerce to submit the results of its inquiry by Oct. 14.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Aug. 14, 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.
Livingston International announced it has acquired New York-based FPA Customs Brokers, in a press release dated Aug. 12. The acquisition expands Livingston’s footprint in New York and Los Angeles, and “bolsters Livingston’s air/sea customs brokerage operations,” it said.
The Federal Maritime Commission released notices on recently received applications for Ocean Transportation Intermediary licenses, as well as reissuances and revocations and terminations of current agreements. Interested parties may contact the Office of Transportation Intermediaries at 202-523-5843 or at OTI@fmc.gov.
The Energy Department says it is revising its procedures related to the approval of facilities to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to non-free trade agreement (FTA) countries. Effective Aug. 15, DOE will no longer issue conditional approvals while the application awaits a decision on environmental impact by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The agency will process applications in the order they become ready, rather than any predetermined order of precedence. The change will not affect conditional approvals already issued by DOE, it said.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Aug. 14 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):