On January 22, 2004, the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) published a notice denying a petition submitted by Alarmex Holdings Group, Inc. which had alleged that certain printed, 100% rayon, herringbone fabric, of 220 g/m2 fabric weight, of 20's singles spun rayon yarn, of 100 X 64 construction, classified in HTS 5516.14.00, for use in apparel articles, cannot be supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities in a timely manner.
In October 2003, the Coast Guard issued six final rules which adopted, with changes, a series of July 2003 interim rules that promulgated maritime security requirements mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA).
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.
| The USDA's Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Response | 01/21/04 | House Committee on Agriculture |
| Can U.S. Companies Compete Globally Using American Workers? | 01/21/04 | House Committee on Small Business |
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its weekly quota commodity report as of January 20, 2004. This report includes tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) on various products such as beef, tuna, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cocoa, tobacco, certain Jordan Free Trade Agreement (JFTA), Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA), and Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) TRQs, etc. This report also includes TRQs on certain HTS Chapter 52 cotton, upland cotton under HTS Chapter 99, the UCFTA, SFTA, CBTPA, AGOA, ATPDEA, and NAFTA tariff preference levels (TPLs) for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics under HTS 9902.51.11 & 9902.51.12, etc. (CBP's weekly quota commodity report, dated 01/20/04, available at http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA), the National Industrial Transportation (NIT) League, and the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) have submitted to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) joint additional comments in response to the FMC's reopening of the comment period on five petitions requesting that some or all non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) be granted, variously, the ability to enter into confidentially negotiated service contracts with their customers, an exemption from establishing and publishing rate tariffs for ocean transportation, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a notice on its Web site announcing that the next Customs Broker Licensure Examination will be held on Monday, April 5, 2004.
At its January 21, 2004 meeting, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) considered a petition from the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA) requesting that the FMC amend its non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) bonding provisions to reflect a recent U.S.-China maritime agreement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a list of the most common errors that cause the rejection of continuous transaction bond (continuous bond) applications and CBP's desired solutions for these errors.
The Editor's page in the weekly Journal of Commerce opines that although the voluntary C-TPAT program has achieved much by responding swiftly to the change in national priorities that followed September 11, it may be time to move on, and work toward formalizing regulations for C-TPAT. The editorial adds that regulations may be needed as it makes little sense to require the use of smart containers through a voluntary C-TPAT program, as there is no guarantee firms will adopt them. (JoC, January 19-25, 2004, www.joc.com )