The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has issued a notice announcing that it has scheduled a meeting on January 9, 2012 with the representatives of the interested entities in two DR-CAFTA commercial availability requests concerning certain 100% polyester circular knit three end fleece fabrics. The meeting is to allow interested parties to provide additional evidence to support their claims and information previously submitted to CITA.

The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation has announced that Special Import Quota #19 for upland cotton was established on December 29, 2011, allowing importation of 14,594,057 kilograms (67,030 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than March 27, 2012, and entered into the U.S. not later than June 25, 2012. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally-adjusted average rate for the period May 2011 through July 2011, the most recent three months for which data are available.

The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation has announced Special Import Quota #18 for upland cotton that was established on December 22, 2011, allowing importation of 14,594,057 kilograms (67,030 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than March 20, 2012, and entered into the U.S. not later than June 18, 2012. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally-adjusted average rate for the period May 2011 through July 2011, the most recent three months for which data are available.

The Government Accountability Office has issued a report finding that in 2011, for the first time since the Earned Import Allowance Program (EIAP) for Haiti was established in 2008, one company has opted to use the EIAP to export apparel from Haiti to the U.S. GAO states that the use of the EIAP continues to be modest due to the availability of other, more flexible trade preferences.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for December 27, 2011:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking as it has reason to believe that firepots and gel fuel used together may present an unreasonable risk of injury. CPSC invites comments on the risk of injury of these products and the regulatory alternatives discussed in the notice. Interested persons may also submit an existing standard or a statement of intent to modify or develop a voluntary standard to address the risk of injury described in the notice.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for December 23, 2011:

On December 23, 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission sent a letter to manufacturers, distributors, importers and retailers of children’s sleepwear to restate the agency’s sleepwear policy, position on children’s loungewear, and to remind them of their obligations under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).

On December 23, 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that qualifying small batch manufacturers of children’s products are not required to third-party test for compliance with certain children’s product safety rules. CPSC also launched a website for small batch manufacturers to register, as registration is required for them to take advantage of the testing relief.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for December 22, 2011: