On June 15, 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2638, the fiscal year (FY) 2008 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, by a vote of 268 to 150. (Congressional Record dated 06/15/07, available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r110:@FIELD(FLD003d)@FIELD(DDATE20070615).
The House Ways and Means Committee has issued a press release announcing that on May 17, 2007, a bipartisan group of 42 lawmakers filed a Section 301 petition calling on the U.S. Trade Representative to take strong action to end China's continued undervaluation of its currency, and to consider taking action against the undervalued Japanese yen. The press release notes that members of Congress filed similar requests with the Bush Administration in September 2004 and April 2005. (Committee press release, dated 05/17/07, available at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news.asp?formmode=release&id=515.)
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting comments by 10 a.m. on February 12, 2007 regarding whether any foreign countries should be identified under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act) (19 USC 2242), which is commonly referred to as the "Special 301" provisions of the Trade Act.
On October 13, 2006, President Bush signed into law the conference version of H.R. 4954, entitled the "Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006" (SAFE Port Act), a measure intended to improve maritime and cargo security through enhanced layered defenses, and for other purposes.
On July 29, 2006, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4, the Pension Protection Act of 2006. According to a Textile Development Memo (TDM) from the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA), H.R. 4 contains Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) fixes, a continuation of the Wool Trust program, a "new shipper" provision, etc. See future issues of ITT for additional details on H.R. 4. (House Ways and Means Committee press release, dated 07/29/06, available at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news.asp?formmode=release&id=419; USA-ITA TDM, dated 07/31/06, www.usita.com.)
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting comments by 10 a.m. on February 13, 2006 regarding whether any foreign countries should be identified under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act) (19 USC 2242), which is commonly referred to as the "Special 301" provision of the Trade Act.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that it will conduct a Special 301 out-of-cycle review (OCR) focused on whether Ukraine has fully implemented certain improvements to its legislation protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) and has otherwise strengthened IPR enforcement.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing that the U.S. is lifting the 100% retaliatory duty rates that have been imposed since 2002 on imports of certain fuel oils, fertilizers, pigments, footwear, diamonds, etc. from the Ukraine.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has rejected a Section 301 petition filed by members of Congress on the issue of China's currency, noting that this petition is similar to two previously rejected petitions. The USTR states that it believes that China has undertaken the necessary and appropriate steps to prepare for a move to a more flexible, market-based exchange rate system; therefore, a Section 301 action would not be an appropriate or productive way to achieve that goal. (USTR statement, dated 05/27/05, available at http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Spokesperson_Statements/May_27,_2005_Statement_from_USTR_Spokesperson_Richard_Mills_Regarding_a_Section_301_Petition_on_Chinas_Currency_Regime.html)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule, effective February 7, 2005, that corrects its December 9, 2004 final rule that requires the establishment and maintenance of records by certain persons (unless excepted) who manufacture, import, process, pack, transport, distribute, receive, or hold food in the U.S.