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.
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).
On January 15, 2008, the International Trade Commission released the public version of its report requested by the U.S. Trade Representative containing advice on the probable economic effect of possible modifications to the list of articles eligible for duty-free treatment under Generalized System of Preferences as part of the 2007 GSP Annual Review.
Presidential Proclamation Implements Certain GSP Changes, Etc. Effective July 1, 2007 (Full Summary)
On June 28, 2007, President Bush issued Proclamation 8157 to modify duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences, designate Mauritania as an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beneficiary country1, and make technical changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS).
On December 11, 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3890, the Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2007, which would reinstate duty-free benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences for certain India and Thailand gold jewelry, amend the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act (BFDA) of 2003 to impose import sanctions on Burmese mined or extracted jadeite and rubies, and articles of jewelry (jewelry/articles) containing same, etc.
The International Trade Commission has posted to its Web site the 2008 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S., which is effective January 1, 2008.
On November 26, 2007, the International Trade Commission received a letter from the U.S. Trade Representative advising it of the withdrawal of petitions which had requested the addition of the three Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings to the list of articles eligible for duty-free treatment under of the Generalized System of Preferences program from all countries under the 2007 annual review.
The U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel has issued a Textile Development Memo on the House of Representatives' passage of H.R. 3890, the Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2007 on December 11, 2007. H.R. 3890 would impose import sanctions on certain Burmese gemstones, revoke the termination of Generalized System of Preferences duty-free benefits for certain Indian and Thai gold jewelry, etc. See future issue of ITT for additional details on H.R. 3890.(USA-ITA TDM dated 12/12/07, www.usaita.com.)