The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice extending the comment period in its child labor review in the production of certain hand-loomed or hand-hooked carpets and certain other textile floor coverings eligible for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences.
On February 27, 2008, the House of Representatives amended and passed H.R. 5264 in order to extend the Andean Trade Preference Act, as amended by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPA/ATPDEA) to December 31, 2008 (from February 29, 2008).
1. CBP's 102 Rule Lacks Accurate Cost Calculation
On February 14, 2008, the House Ways and Means Committee approved an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 5264, in order to extend the Andean Trade Preference Act, as amended by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPA/ATPDEA), for another eight months, from March 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008.
A House Ways and Means press release reports that Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel has introduced H.R. 5264, a bill to provide, among other things, an extension to September 30, 2010 of the following three trade preference programs scheduled to expire this year: the Andean Trade Preferences (ATPA/ATPDEA) due to expire on February 29; the Caribbean Basin Preferences (CBI/CBTPA) scheduled to expire in September 30; and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheduled to expire on December 31. (Release, dated 02/08/08, available at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/News.asp?FormMode=release&ID=620; text of H.R. 5264 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h5264ih.txt.pdf.)
The International Trade Administration frequently issues notices on antidumping and countervailing duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.
In Timber Products Co., v. U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of International Trade's decision to sustain Customs' classification of plywood panels imported by Timber Products from Brazil under HTS subheading 4412.14.30 ruling that "Virola" is not a commercial designation in the plywood trade.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice announcing that it has accepted five competitive need limitation waiver petitions for further review as part of the 2007 Generalized System of Preferences Annual Review.
The European Commission's delegation to the U.S. reports that as of mid-January 2008, 35 countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) had signed either interim or full Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EC. The EC intends to upgrade the interim agreements into comprehensive EPAs throughout 2008.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made available on its Web site a large group of documents related to its Focused Assessment Program (FAP).