The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing a new government-wide initiative, known as the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!), to fight global trade in pirated and counterfeit goods.
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) is urging ocean carriers and terminal operators to meet to discuss service issues, as well as charges and delays for accessorial services such as Customs exams for containers. (JoC Online, dated 09/21/04, www.joc.com)
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that the container congestion that has affected the Los Angeles - Long Beach harbor for the past three months will continue for at least four to eight weeks, or even longer, due to higher than projected cargo volumes, compounded by lack of capacity on railroads serving the docks and a severe shortage of longshore labor. (JoC Online, dated 09/29/04, www.joc.com)
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that the U.S. has suspended plans to include the Dominican Republic in the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) after Dominican lawmakers passed a 25% import tax on corn syrup during the week of September 20, 2004. (JoC Online, dated 09/28/04. www.joc.com.)
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a notice requesting public comments by October 13, 2004 regarding a "commercial availability" petition it received under the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) on behalf of Picacho, S.A.:
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a notice requesting public comments by October 13, 2004 regarding a "commercial availability" petition it received under the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) on behalf of Jaclyn, Inc. of New York:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting comments on adding several types of goods (e.g., ten HTS numbers for certain cheese, peaches, mandarins, and clementines in Chapters 4, 8, and 20) to its previously published list of goods whose duties may be increased in the event the U.S. cannot reach agreement with the European Union (EU) for adequate compensation owed under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules as a result of May 2004 EU enlargement and EU changes to its rice import regime.
The Washington Trade Daily (WTD) reports that although Chinese officials have made clear their belief that "threat-based" textile and apparel safeguard petitions violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, Commerce Department officials state that the safeguard provision negotiated as part of the bilateral agreement on China's WTO accession clearly allows for such petitions. According to WTD, these officials noted that the Bush Administration fully intends to comply with its WTO commitments to lift domestic textile and apparel quotas at the end of this year. (WTD Pub 09/23/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com)
According to The Journal of Commerce Online, the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach will delay its implementation of the nation's first-ever charge ($20 per TEU) for moving containers during daytime hours to a date in the first quarter of 2005 (rather than November 1, 2004 as originally planned). The article states that the delay is needed due to a shortage of longshore labor and delays in setting up collections by PierPass, the organization established by terminal operators to manage the program. (Joc Online, dated 09/22/04, www.joc.com )
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a notice announcing the opening of the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on raw cane sugar as provided for in HTS Chapter 17, Additional U.S. Note (AUSN) 5 for the period October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. According to CBP, this TRQ opens on October 1, 2004 at 1:00 p.m. EDT or its equivalent in other time zones.