The rise of international digital protectionism and insufficient digital trade rules in global trade pacts are hampering small business growth by inhibiting the free flow of information across borders, said a group of international experts at a George Washington University Institute for International Economic Policy panel on Oct. 7. But emerging international trade agreements, notably the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), have the potential to include the most progressive digital trade and tariff harmonization language to date, said a number of the panelists.
CBP adopted as final, with some minor modifications, the regulations that were published in the Sept. 26, 2012, Federal Register to implement the preferential tariff treatment and other customs-related provisions of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. No comments had been submitted in response to the 2012 notice, CBP said.
The Commerce Department issued its final affirmative countervailing duty determination on hardwood and decorative plywood from China (C-570-987). Although this final determination takes effect Sept. 23, Commerce will only require CV cash deposits of estimated CV duties if it issues a CV order.
The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of the administrative review of the countervailing duty order on corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea (C-580-818). The CV rates for all three companies under review were preliminarily found to be de minimis1. These CV rates are not in effect. Commerce may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated CV cash deposit rate for these companies.
The President’s Export Council will hold a meeting Sept. 19 at 9:30 a.m. EDT in Washington, D.C. The group will discuss priorities for the 9th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference; forced localization policies; government procurement; de minimis reform; intellectual property protections in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement; expansion of the Information Technology Agreement; and export control reform. The meeting will be webcast live (here).
The Food and Drug Administration asked for notification of all imports of laser products so the agency can review admissibility, in an Aug. 12 letter to CBP. That includes informal and Section 321 low value entries, FDA said. The request for CBP notification is in response to mail and courier shipments of laser pointers that have been misdeclared as toys and flashlights to circumvent review, FDA said. The food, drug and device regulator needs to check if the laser pointers meet maximum energy output standards, it said.
CBP will begin enforcing entry requirements on container residue on Nov. 25, and is launching a pilot on the same date that will allow for simplified “residue entries,” it said in a notice set for publication in the Aug. 27 Federal Register. To qualify for residue entry, the residue must fall under thresholds for weight or volume, and must not have any commercial value. Residue entries will be released under modified procedures for low value shipments. Participation in the pilot is not required. All may participate in the pilot and file residue entries, and those that don’t will have to enter container residue under normal entry procedures.
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 15 remanded the final results of the 2009-10 antidumping duty administrative review on activated carbon from China, citing several issues with the average rates assigned to non-individually reviewed “separate rate” companies. Because the rates for the only individually reviewed companies were de minimis, Commerce based the $0.28/kg average rate for seven other companies on rates calculated for different companies in a previous review. That’s too far from the commercial reality of the separate rate companies, the court said. CIT also remanded the Commerce’s decision to use a “specific” per kilogram rate for one of the separate rate companies, as well as the agency’s calculation of surrogate values for inputs.
Difficult customs procedures are among the notable impediments to digital trade, or trade via the Internet, according to a International Trade Commission (ITC) report entitled Digital Trade in the U.S. and Global Economies Part 1 (here). "Customs duties and complicated document preparation and processing can increase the costs associated with small online retail transactions, making it more difficult to conduct online business" especially for small- and medium-sized businesses, it said. The report notes that industry has pointed to low de minimis levels -- the value of an import shipment below which a company does not have to prepare customs documents -- as among the difficulties.
The Commerce Department could still put countervailing duty orders on frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador, India, Malaysia, China, and Vietnam, but imports from Indonesia and Thailand will get off scot-free after the Commerce Department found no illegal subsidization by those countries, the agency said in a fact sheet Aug. 13. Commerce found final countervailing duty rates of 18.16 for China, 10.13 to 13.51 percent for Ecuador, 10.54 to 11.14 percent for India, 10.80 to 54.50 percent for Malaysia, and 1.15 to 7.88 percent for Vietnam. All CV duty rates were found to be de minimis in the Indonesia and Thailand investigations.