The Commerce Department's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has issued its November 2003 Textile and Apparel Trade Balance Report (containing data through November 30, 2003). The Trade Balance Report shows imports and exports and calculates the trade balance for U.S. textile and apparel trade with the world and with major U.S. trading partners.
Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. The following have been issued since BP's most recent update:
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of foundry coke from China for the review period of March 8, 2001 through August 31, 2002.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has preliminarily determined to revoke the countervailing (CV) duty orders on certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products and cut-to-length carbon steel plate products from Germany for entries of subject merchandise that have a time of entry on or after April 1, 2004.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a notice announcing that it is undertaking a pilot program to systematically review four of its current substantive regulations to ensure, to the maximum practical extent, consistency among them and with respect to accomplishing program goals.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a notice stating that, effective February 2, 2004, the current limit for Group I is being increased for special shift, decreasing the limit for Group III to account for the special shift being applied to Group I.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a notice announcing that the next meeting of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) will be held on February 6, 2004 in Washington, DC. (This committee was previously called the "Treasury Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the U.S. Customs Service.")
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has preliminary determined to revoke the antidumping (AD) duty order on coumarin from China for all entries with a time of entry on or after February 1, 2003, the earliest date for which there are entries which have not been subject to an administrative review.
In early January 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued an ABI administrative message announcing that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prior notice affirmation of compliance for air waybill (AWB) would be edited for format: NNN-NNNNNNNN. In that message, CBP noted that this was also a change to the BN01 and BN02 records in the 'BN' application. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/09/04 news, 04010955, for previous BP summary of previous message, Adm: 04-0031.)
The Journal of Commerce (JoC) has reported that the new hours of service (HOS) rules governing the number of hours commercial truck drivers may work , could worsen the driver shortage and possibly drive more long-haul traffic to intermodal rail, among other things. JoC adds that shippers may face higher freight rates and may have to take over loading/unloading so that drivers can get back on the road more quickly. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/04/03, 03120410, for BP summary.) (JoC Pub dated 01/12-18/04, www.joc.com)