U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice on the effect that Nepal's April 23, 2004 World Trade Organization (WTO) membership will have on the quota and visa requirements imposed on certain of its textile and apparel products.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message to remind ABI filers that full ABI edits for FDA prior notice (PN) data go into effect on May 13, 2004.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has posted to its Web site the draft text of the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the Dominican Republic.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) has issued an amending supplement (No. 4, dated August 2003) to the Harmonized System Explanatory Notes (ENs). (Although not binding on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the ENs are followed by CBP whenever possible.)
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has determined, effective April 9, 2004, that certain viscose rayon filament yarns, classified in HTS 5403.41.0000, for use in apparel articles, cannot be supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities in a timely manner under the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA).
In the April 7, 2004 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 15), CBP issued notices (a) proposing to revoke a classification ruling on certain laryngectomy covers, and (b) proposing to revoke two classification rulings on industrial smokehouse apparatus. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.
USTR Seeks Comments on Possible Withdrawal, Suspension, or Limitation of GSP Benefits for Bangladesh
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice stating that the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is seeking public comments by May 12, 2004 on which products of Bangladesh should no longer be eligible for GSP duty-free treatment if the GSP Subcommittee decides to recommend limiting Bangladesh's GSP benefits.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice advising the trade on the upcoming system requirements that will be needed to file a U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) claim under HTS 9999.00.84 through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a new informed compliance publication (dated March 2004) entitled "What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Vending Machines and Their Parts Under the HTSUS." CBP states that this publication is a study of the classification of vending machines and their parts under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTSUS).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued to the ports and posted to its Web site separate instructions regarding (1) the use of visas to make claims for duty-free treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for qualifying textile and/or apparel articles (textile articles) from Sierra Leone that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after April 5, 2004, and (2) quota reporting for certain apparel articles from Sierra Leone that are subject to the AGOA aggregate tariff preference level (TPL) and its sublimit.