On November 11, 2003, President Bush signed into law the "Military Family Tax Relief Act of 2003" (Public Law (P.L.) 108-121) which, among other things, extended the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF, both formal and informal) and the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) user fees through March 1, 2005.

According to government sources and the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is planning to detain certain knit-to-shape garments claiming a country of origin other than China, whose entry package claims their panels were knit-to-shape in a country other than China, and then sent to China to be linked and looped.

Sources at the Bureau of Census (Census) have stated that the Costa Rican government has delayed implementation of a new requirement that exporters furnish a copy of the Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) or Automated Export System (AES) record for exports from the U.S. to Costa Rica. Prior to the delay, this new requirement was scheduled for implementation starting March 5, 2004.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message announcing that an Automated Broker Interface (ABI) program correction was implemented on March 3, 2004 that corrects the 'BN' reject problem that filers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prior notice 'WP' in-bond application were experiencing.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has inadvertently published a notice containing erroneously selected and organized 10-month data on the Competitive Need Limitations (CNLs) under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.

The Journal of Commerce reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert Bonner has said that within 60 days CBP will resolve with industry differences over the definition of "shipper" on international cargo manifests. (CBP has announced that it is delaying the full enforcement of the term "shipper" for inbound ocean cargo. See ITT's Online Archives or 02/24/04 news, 04022405, for BP summary.) (JoC Online dated 03/05/04, www.joc.com.)

According to the ITA, the petitioner, International Imaging Materials, Inc. (IIMAK), alleged that respondents in the three concurrent investigations of TTR (France, Japan, and South Korea) would attempt to circumvent the order by slitting jumbo rolls in third countries. Therefore, the ITA states that IIMAK requested that slitting does not change the country of origin of TTR for AD duty purposes.

The ITA states that it will determine and CBP will assess, AD duties on all appropriate entries. The ITA adds that it will issue appropriate assessment instructions to CBP within 15 days of March 5, 2004.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has determined that, effective March 5, 2004, certain viscose yarn, classified in HTS 5510.11.0000, for use in manufacturing fabrics, cannot be supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities in a timely manner under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting written comments by March 26, 2004 concerning the establishment of a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel to examine the European Communities (EU) Regulation 2081/92, as amended, which governs the protection of geographical indications for agricultural foodstuffs.