The Agricultural Marketing Service requests comments on its plans to review the minimum quality and handling standards for domestic and imported peanuts marketed in the U.S. to determine whether they should be continued without change, amended, or rescinded to minimize the impacts on small entities. Comments are due by June 28, 2010. (D/N AMS-FV-10-0030; FV10-996-610, FR Pub 04/28/10, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-9833.pdf)

During their recent meeting, USTR Kirk and EU Commissioner Dalli discussed issues of food safety for U.S. and European consumers, citing the importance of science-based decisions on how food is inspected and traded, particularly when it comes to new innovations in the production and processing of agricultural and food products. (Notice, posted 04/26/10, available at http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/blog/2010/april/ambassador-kirk-and-eu-commissioner-dalli-meet-discuss-food-sa)

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has issued Revision 2 to its Guidelines for Preparing Agreements, which incorporates additional revisions to its previously published Guidelines (Revision 1A, published in April 2009).

The Treasury Department has published its current list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. The countries included on this list are:

The Census Bureau has posted to its Web site the April 2010 issue of its Automated Export System Newsletter. Highlights include:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced that Jo-Ann Stores Inc. of Hudson, Ohio has agreed to pay a $50,000 civil penalty to settle allegations of importing and selling children’s products that violated the federal lead paint ban.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted draft proposed rules that would designate certain children’s upper outerwear with drawstring violations and handheld hairdryers without immersion protection to be substantial product hazards under section 15 (j) of the Consumer Product Safety Act.

The International Trade Administration has made a preliminary affirmative antidumping determination that certain seamless carbon and alloy steel standard, line, and pressure pipe from China (seamless pipe) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.

Broker Power is now issuing weekly summary reports highlighting the most active textile and apparel tariff preference levels¹ from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “Quota Weekly Commodity Status Report.” BP’s weekly report also lists the TRQ commodities on CBP’s weekly “TRQ/TPL Threshold to Fill List.”

In March 2010, the Office of the United States Trade Representative issued its Report on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Report) to Congress.