The International Sugar Trade Coalition voiced approval May 28, 2012 for the Farm Bill (S-3240), recently passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee, for giving sugar producers in developing nations a guaranteed level of access to the U.S. sugar market at fair predictable prices. The ISTC wrote to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Pat Roberts (D-Minn.) to express its support for the Farm Bill, which would extend the current sugar policy through 2017.
Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) urged members of the transportation reauthorization conference committees to include "Buy America" provisions within the Senate-passed bill (S 1813). A 47-member conference committee is working to iron out differences in Senate and House legislation that would reauthorize federal-aid programs for highways.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it is aware that ABI filers are receiving "Docs Req'd" messages on entry summaries that normally would get a "paperless" response. CBP said it is working on the issue.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1206 on changes to the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). This update contains 13,572 ABI records and 2,681 harmonized tariff records.
In the May 16, 2012 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 46, No.21), CBP published two notices of its revocation and/or modification of its rulings and treatment regarding the tariff classification of air fresheners and certain gas generators
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the next Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) meeting is scheduled for Seattle Aug. 15.
The video for the May 10, 2012 West Coast Symposium is (here).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a spreadsheet showing active AD/CVD cases and the associated case numbers, ISO country codes, tariff numbers, and short descriptions of each case as of May 15, 2012 . This information alone should not be relied upon in determining whether an AD/CVD case is currently active, or whether merchandise falls under the scope of AD/CVD order, said CBP. For current AD/CVD information, consult ACE, Department of Commerce Federal Register Notices, and ADDCVD Search on CBP.gov, said CBP.
Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was last updated May 24, 2012 with 405 rulings, bringing the total number of searchable rulings to 171,418. The most recent ruling is dated 5/22/2012 12:00:00 AM.