The Obama Administration should ensure the Japanese tariff rate quota (TRQ) on U.S.-made and U.S.-branded leather footwear is removed through Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, said American Apparel and Footwear Association Executive Vice President Steve Lamar in an April 7 letter to President Barack Obama. Japan currently allows 12 million pairs of leather shoes annually in its TRQ, then 4,300 yen or a 30 percent duty is applied to additional imports, equating to about $45 per pair of shoes, said Lamar. “Japan’s leather footwear TRQ should be part of your call for Japan to increase its ambition on market access and reducing barriers to trade as part of the TPP negotiations,” said Lamar. “Japan’s longstanding footwear quotas have been a significant and costly barrier to U.S. footwear companies trying to enter the Japanese market. Japan’s leather footwear TRQ has been in place since 1952.” The Japanese TRQ represents another area of TPP discord, said Matt Priest, president of Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, in late February (see 14022504).

The Census Bureau resolved a glitch in the Automated Export System that was generating a Fatal Error 339 for Electronic Export Information submitted on April 5 with an export date of April 6, said Census in a release. For more information, contact the Census’s AES Branch at askaes@census.gov, www.census.gov/trade, blogs.census.gov/globalreach or (800) 549-0595, option 1.

The Census Bureau will provide the trade community an additional 180 days to come into compliance with the Foreign Trade Regulations revisions that became effective on April 5, Census said in a press release. The rule makes wide-ranging changes to postdeparture filing program and requirements for mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES) (see 13031501). During the grace period, Census will not penalize for violations of the regulations changed in the final rule. Census will still penalize for violations of Foreign Trade Regulations that did not change in the final rule. Census and CBP will also use “informed compliance” to educate the trade community on the new requirements during the 180 day period.

The Bureau of Industry and Security reminded U.S. firms that they are required to submit their calendar year 2013 annual reports on offsets agreements related to sales of defense articles or defense services to foreign countries or foreign firms by June 15,. Reports are required to contain information on: (1) contracts for the sale of defense articles or defense services to foreign countries or foreign firms that are subject to offsets agreements exceeding $5,000,000 in value; and (2) offsets transactions completed in performance of existing offsets commitments for which offsets credit of $250,000 or more has been claimed from the foreign representative.

The Census Bureau has resolved the Automated Export System (AES) postdeparture (Option 4) glitch that has been erroneously generating a “Fatal Error 082: USPPI Not Option 4 Eligible/Shipment Rejected,” said Census on March 27. Census initially notified the public of the glitch on March 25 (see 14032528).

European Union (EU) technical regulations for imports pose obstacles for U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in a recently released report. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) requested the report, in order to properly address trade barriers as part of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. The costs of meeting the EU regulatory and other requirements affect SMEs more adversely, said the ITC. Exporters must hire EU representatives to navigate the requirements and conduct more standards tests, said the report.

The U.S. export of fresh potatoes to Mexico should resume by May, following a recent Mexican government decision to formally permit the trade, said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. A rule published in the Mexican government Diario Oficial on March 19 (here) enables U.S. potato exports to continue, in accordance with a U.S.-Mexican Market Access Agreement struck in 2003, said Simpson. The Mexican final rule runs “parallel” with a recent Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) rule to authorize U.S. import of Mexican potatoes, said potato industry advocates. The APHIS rule will take effect on April 25 (see 14032513).

The State Department has suspended the issuance of licenses that would authorize U.S. export of defense articles and services to Russia, the agency on March 27 (here). The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security discontinued issuing licenses for export or reexport of controlled items to Russia (here). The House and Senate are considering Ukraine legislation on March 27 that would increase sanctions on Russian officials.

The Automated Export System (AES) postdeparture (Option 4) is erroneously generating a “Fatal Error 082: USPPI Not Option 4 Eligible/Shipment Rejected” message due to a glitch in the system that resulted from the recent AES move to the Automated Commercial Environment platform, the Census Bureau said. Census is working to resolve the issue.

The Census Bureau scheduled an Automated Export System (AES) shutdown from March 29 at 11:00 p.m. EDT to March 30 at 3:00 a.m. EDT for maintenance, Census said on March 30. The AESDirect website will still be available, but shipments will remain in a queue until CBP completes the scheduled maintenance. Census said exporters should file prior to these outages. The AES Downtime Policy will be in effect during the outage. Should exporters use the Downtime Policy, contact the port of intended export. In lieu of the AES Proof of Filing citation, exporters should use the AES Downtime citation, consisting of the phrase AESDOWN, and the individual company's Filer ID, followed by the date.