American Shipper has reported that the European Union was poised to implement the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) solid wood packing material (SWPM) standard in the spring of 2004. However, it has now dropped this initiative due to the admittance of 10 new member countries from Eastern Europe. American Shipper states that a new implementation date has yet to be set. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has also posted an update to its Web site stating that Australia has proposed draft requirements for imported SWPM that are to become effective July 1, 2004. See APHIS' SWPM Web page for more information http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/swp/industry/index.html. (American Shipper Pub May 2004 www.americanshipper.com)
In the May 5, 2004 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBPBulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 19), CBP issued notices: (a) revoking two classification rulings on certain metal couplings and connectors; and (b) revoking a classification ruling regarding plastic identification badges. CBP states that it is also revoking any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective May 4, 2004, which amends the Commerce Control List (CCL)1 to reflect changes to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Annex agreed to at the September 2003 Plenary in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the changed circumstances antidumping (AD) duty review of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Canada, concluding that only subject merchandise both produced and exported by Stelco, Inc. and Stelwire Ltd. (Stelco Group) is excluded from the AD duty order.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a notice announcing that a public hearing will begin on May 19, 2004 (and may continue on May 20, 2004) in Washington, DC regarding a petition it received requesting the imposition of monitoring and export controls on copper scrap and copper-alloy scrap.
On May 5, 2004, the House Ways and Means Committee amended and ordered reported (i.e., approved) H.R. 4103, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act of 2004. (This bill is often referred to as "AGOA III.")
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued messages on a number of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty actions, many of which (marked by an * in the action column) were previously published in the Federal Register by the International Trade Administration (ITA) and summarized in International Trade Today.
The Treasury Department (Treasury) has issued a notice requesting written comments by June 4, 2004 on whether to extend the "make available" requirement of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (Act) through December 31, 2005.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) Office of Information and Technology has posted a notice to its Web site containing (a) a list, updated as of April 27, 2004, of companies/persons offering Sea Automated Manifest System (AMS) data processing services to the trade community, and (b) the Sea AMS Respondent Checklist, as follows:
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective April 29, 2004, which revises certain entries on the Commerce Control List (CCL) controlled for national security reasons in Categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Part I (telecommunications), 5 Part II (information security), 6, and 7 to conform with changes in the List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies maintained and agreed to by the governments participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies that were agreed to at the December 2003 meeting.