In March 2010, the Office of the United States Trade Representative issued its Report on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Report) to Congress.
On April 23, 2010, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture increased the fiscal year 2010 raw cane sugar tariff-rate quota by 200,000 short tons raw value (STRV), due to a determination that additional supplies of raw cane sugar are required in the U.S. market.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.
The International Trade Commission has instituted a section 337 patent-based investigation of certain electronic devices with multi-touch enabled touchpads and touchscreens, pursuant to a complaint (Inv. No. 337-TA-714).
The International Trade Administration has initiated an antidumping duty investigation to determine whether imports of aluminum extrusions from China are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value; and a countervailing duty investigation to determine whether manufacturers, producers, or exporters of aluminum extrusions in China receive countervailable subsidies.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Bersin and Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Tenenbaum signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 26, 2010 regarding CBP’s Import Safety Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC).
The International Trade Administration has posted comments by 38 groups regarding prospective versus retrospective antidumping and countervailing duty systems, which were due by April 20, 2010.
The Federal Register has published the spring 2010 semi-annual regulatory agendas for Federal government agencies.
The following are highlights of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s April 15, 2010 open meeting to discuss the draft proposed “15 Month Rule” on testing and labeling and the related draft proposed rule on component testing. The meeting included CPSC staff presentations on the requirements of the drafts followed by questions by the Commissioners.
State Department, WHO, CDC Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, Country Specific Information Sheets, Etc.
The State Department, World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently issued the following travel warnings, travel alerts, country specific information sheets, and disease outbreak-related information: