On May 12, 2010, Senators Kerry and Lieberman released their draft comprehensive energy and climate change bill, The American Power Act.
"Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions" is a daily International Trade Today compilation of the most relevant legislation, hearings, and actions by Congress involving international trade. The following are brief summaries of recent Capitol Hill actions:
The International Trade Administration frequently issues notices on antidumping and countervailing duty orders, investigations, etc. which Broker Power considers to be "minor” in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued, neither announce nor cause any changes to an order’s duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period, etc.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has posted a manual on how to determine what will be published on its website from a company's chemical substance registration dossier, required by the European Union’s REACH1 program.
Consumer Product Safety Commission sources have confirmed that senior management from CPSC and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are in the final stages of negotiations concerning detentions, and CPSC now expects to begin issuing its own detention notices as early as June 2010.
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued a notice that lists those applying for ocean transportation intermediary licenses as a non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVOCC), ocean freight forwarder (FF) or NVOCC/FF OTI, as follows:
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has issued a notice is to advise those industry users who have upgraded to the Windows XP or 7 operating systems and Internet Explorer 7 or 8 that there are reported issues with the use of PureEdge View version 6.5. D-Trade users are strongly encouraged to download and install IBM Lotus Forms Viewer 3.5.1. (Notice, dated 05/08/10, available at http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/documents/IndustryNotice05082010.pdf)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued another warning about the suffocation and strangulation hazards associated with drop-side cribs, stating that it has recalled more than 7 million such cribs in the last five years and is actively investigating more manufacturers for potential drop-side hazards. (Notice, dated 05/07/10, available at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10225.html)
Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recently met to discuss the U.S.-ASEAN Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement (TIFA) and the importance of the trade relationship between the U.S. and ASEAN. (Press release, dated 05/07/10, available at http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2010/may/deputy-united-states-trade-representative-marantis-and)
The U.S.-China Business Council has submitted comments on China’s April 2010 draft notice on the launch of the National Indigenous Innovation Work. The Council states that China’s current policies, which appear to use a mix of product catalogs, unique standard requirements, government procurement preferences, and tax incentives that include requirements for domestic intellectual property ownership, are inconsistent with international best practices and may prove counterproductive to China’s goals. (Comments, dated 05/10/10, available at http://www.uschina.org/public/documents/2010/05/uscbc_most_circular_comments.pdf)