On April 1, 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a first set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and responses regarding the mandatory advance electronic information requirements for inbound air cargo.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an updated Industry Guidance which lists, and provides a written description for, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) numbers that are flagged in U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) entry system with imported food prior notice FD3 or FD4 indicators.
The Washington Post reports that progress toward free trade is bogged down in Congress, due in large part to public concerns about the loss of jobs to foreign competition. According to the article, voter sentiment is running high against trade with low-wage countries and the Bush Administration is leery of trying for congressional approval of the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) before the November election. The article opines that the only free trade agreements (FTAs) that stand a chance of getting through Congress in coming months are the U.S.-Australia FTA and the U.S.-Morocco FTA. (WP dated 04/23/04, www.washingtonpost.com.)
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a notice, effective April 23, 2004, announcing that it has updated its Unverified List by removing one Chinese entity.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued two notices on behalf of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) which announce that the USTR and the Department of Labor (DOL) are initiating a review of the impacts of the proposed U.S.-Thailand and U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on U.S. employment, including labor markets.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice regarding the June 8, 2004 implementation of the redesigned commodity module of the Automated Export System (AES).
According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) notice and CBP sources, beginning later in 2004, continuous bond numbers issued under CBP's Pilot Bond Centralization Program are expected to include alpha character(s) (rather than "all numeric" characters as they do now).
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty administrative reviews:
On April 21, 2004, the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) published a notice denying a petition submitted by Oxford Industries, Inc., which had alleged that certain 100% cotton woven flannel fabrics, made from 21 through 36 NM single ring-spun yarns of different colors, classified in HTS 5208.43.00, of 2 X 1 twill weave construction, weighing not more than 200 grams per square meter, for use in apparel articles1, could not be supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities in a timely manner.
Washington Trade Daily reports that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently decided to cancel the next round of technical level talks on steel subsidies and to delay a meeting of senior officials that had been scheduled for early May 2004. According to the article, a U.S. trade official stated that the multilateral talks on curbing government subsidies to the steel sectors and global overcapacity have hit a stalemate, and may need to be moved to another forum to find an agreement. (WTD dated 04/21/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com)