FDA is proposing new requirements for when the term “healthy” can be used as a claim on food labeling. The proposed rule, published in the Sept. 29 Federal Register, would modify current general criteria for using the term “healthy” by moving to a food-specific approach, and would set new recordkeeping requirements where compliance can’t be verified with information on the product label, FDA said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Despite sales terms to the contrary, a Hong Kong middleman never held title to merchandise imported from China and Taiwan into the U.S., so “first sale” valuation is unavailable and the goods should be valued at the price paid by the importer, CBP said in a recent ruling. Incoterms aside, the importer paid for freight and insurance, and title transferred alongside risk of loss directly from the manufacturer to the importer, with the middleman acting more as agent, CBP said in HQ H316892.
FDA has issued its Enforcement Report for Sept. 21, listing the status of recalls and field corrections for food, cosmetics, tobacco products, drugs, biologics and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is setting new procedures for claiming Craft Beverage Modernization Act tax reductions beginning in 2023. The agency’s temporary rule implements the transfer of authority to administer CBMA provisions from CBP to TTB, and creates a new system wherein importers will claim refunds retroactively each quarter, rather than at time of entry. Producer registration, assignment of credits and importer claims will all be filed in the agency’s myTTB online system and tied to data filed in ACE at entry.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service hopes to begin implementation of its seventh and penultimate phase of Lacey Act declaration requirements toward the end of 2023, the agency’s Erin Otto said Sept. 19, speaking at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference in Washington. Otto said APHIS hopes to complete phase seven implementation in the summer of 2024, at which point the agency will pivot to the final phase eight.
CBP’s final rule creating a continuing education requirement for customs brokers is in the “stretch run,” with the regulations written and in the initial stages of review with CBP’s Office of Trade, said John Leonard, deputy assistant commissioner-trade at CBP, in remarks Sept. 19. The final rule only has to be signed by the secretary of homeland security, which will make for a quicker process than for CBP rules that also have to be signed by the treasury secretary, said Leonard, speaking at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference.
The Commerce Department released the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on oil country tubular goods from Ukraine (A-823-815). The agency preliminarily calculated a 1.59% AD duty rate for the related companies Interpipe Europe S.A./Interpipe Ukraine LLC, PJSC Interpipe Niznedneprovsky Tube Rolling Plant and Interpipe Niko Tube LLC. If the agency's finding is continued in the final results, importers of subject merchandise from Interpipe entered July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, will be assessed AD duties at importer-specific rates. Any changes to rates for Interpipe would take effect on the date of publication in the Federal Register of the final results of this review, due in January 2023.
The Commerce Department is finalizing a two-year waiver from antidumping and countervailing duties for solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam that are subject to ongoing anticircumvention inquiries. The agency’s Sept. 16 final rule mandates that no suspension of liquidation, cash deposit requirements or AD/CV duty assessments will apply until June 6, 2024, in the event that Commerce finds circumvention of Chinese solar cells duties, though the grace period could be terminated earlier, and the solar cells must now be used within a certain period to qualify.
FDA has issued its Enforcement Report for Sept. 14, listing the status of recalls and field corrections for food, cosmetics, tobacco products, drugs, biologics and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.