On July 14, 2004, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4759, the "U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act." On July 15, 2004, the Senate passed H.R. 4759, clearing the measure for the President.
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that on July 15, 2004, a federal judge extended until September 3 the temporary injunction barring a boycott by truckers at the Port of Miami. According to the article, the judge had granted the injunction during the week of July 5, 2004 after three port terminals argued that the boycott was causing irreparable harm to their business. (JoC Online, dated 07/15/04, at http://www.joc.com/20040715/sections/ocean/w54324.asp )
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing its determination that Nigeria (1) has adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent unlawful transshipment and the use of counterfeit documents in connection with shipments of textile and apparel articles, and (2) has implemented and follows, or is making substantial progress toward implementing and following, the customs procedures required by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This determination is effective July 14, 2004.
Shippers'NewsWire reports that Islamist terrorist organizations have allegedly warned several major Asian shipping companies of possible attacks, according to newspapers in Asia. However, one Korean shipping company commented that Korean newspapers "erroneously reported" that the terrorist organizations had warned nine Korean shipping companies, when in fact the warning messages were addressing major shipping companies worldwide that include American, Danish, Taiwanese and French ones. (American Shipper Shippers'NewsWire, 07/14/04, ShippersNewsWire@americanshipper.com )
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting written comments on its Special 301 out-of-cycle review of Israel regarding intellectual property rights (IPR).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the results of several Generalized System of Preferences- (GSP-) related reviews.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice stating that the U.S. has requested the establishment of a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel (DSP) regarding Mexico's tax measures on soft drinks and other beverages as well as on syrups, concentrates, powders, essences or extracts that can be diluted to produce such products (beverages and syrups) that use any sweetener other than cane sugar.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the initiation of a review to consider the designation of Iraq as a beneficiary developing country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has posted to its Web site an updated version of the 2004 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTS) dated July 1, 2004 (Supplement 1).
The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) 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.