The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective March 28, 2007, which amends the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations (CWCR) at 15 CFR Parts 710, 715, 716, 719, and 721 to expedite the collection of information concerning the inspection status of plant sites that produce unscheduled discrete organic chemicals (UDOCs) subject to the declaration requirements, to clarify the scope of the records review and recordkeeping requirements, and to update the maximum civil penalty that may be imposed for violations of restrictions on imports of CWC Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 chemicals.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective March 22, 2007, which corrects errors contained in its April 24, 2006 final rule that implemented the new formula for calculating computer performance from Composite Theoretical Performance (CTP) measured in Millions of Theoretical Operations Per Second (MTOPS) to Adjusted Peak Performance (APP) measured in Weighted TeraFLOPS (Trillion Floating point Operations Per Second) (WT).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a press release announcing that it will begin testing air cargo screening technologies this spring at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) as part of its previously announced $30 million Air Cargo Explosives Detection Pilot Program (ACEDPP). The pilot program is designed to test the screening of significant amounts of cargo within an air cargo facility and will focus on areas to include assessing the flow and speed of cargo screening. (DHS press release, dated 03/26/07, available at www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1174939478443.shtm.)
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued a notice in the Federal Register announcing the fees for Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) applicants as follows: a total standard fee of $137.25, and a reduced fee of $105.25 for applicants who have completed a prior comparable threat assessment, which TSA sources state will become effective on March 26, 2007. This notice finalizes the fees previously announced in a TSA press release. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/05/07 news, 07030515, for Part V of BP summary of TSA's final rule on TWIC requirements, which includes a detailed summary of these previously announced fees.) (TSA fees notice, D/N TSA-2006-24191, FR Pub 03/20/07, available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-1328.pdf)
Senator Dick Durbin has issued a press release announcing that he and Senator Diane Feinstein have introduced a bill (S. 887) to transfer responsibility for conducting agricultural inspections at all points of entry in the U.S. from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) back to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). (Press release, dated 03/14/07, available at http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=270685.)
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a notice to solicit speakers and presentations for the May 2, 2007 meeting of the Deemed Export Advisory Committee (DEAC), which will be held in Atlanta, GA, with exact details to be announced in a subsequent Federal Register notice.
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that on March 9, 2007, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would raise tonnage taxes on vessels arriving at U.S. ports as a way of paying for improvements in water-pollution control. (JoC Online, dated 03/09/07, www.joc.com.)
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective March 6, 2007, which amends 15 CFR Parts 740, 742, and 774 to revise and clarify license exception availability, license requirements, and licensing policy for certain crime control items.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective March 2, 2007, which amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add two entities located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the Entity List.
American Shipper reports that the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently formed the Office of Technology Evaluation to get a better idea of how its export licensing procedures and requirements meet the demands of enforcing export licensing regulations and American shippers seeking to expand their global reach. (American Shipper Pub February 2007, www.americanshipper.com)