In St. Eve International, Inc. v. U.S., the Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled in favor of the importer, finding that three entries of shelf bra camisoles were properly classified under HTS 6109.10.0037 (2002) as women's or girls' underwear (Cat 352).

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.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release stating that it made 6,500 seizures of merchandise in violation of intellectual property rights (IPR) laws in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003, an increase of about 700 seizures over FY 2002, with the value of FY 2003 IPR seizures amounting to $94 million.

According to The Journal of Commerce, the submission to the Coast Guard of vessel and facility security plans by December 31, 2003 was only the first step as the crucial deadline is July 1, 2004, when vessels and shoreside facilities must have their security plans in operation. The article states that the Coast Guard plans to review the port security plans during the January-March 2003 time frame and by July 1, 2004, port facilities have to be operating in compliance. After that time, the Coast Guard will make unscheduled facility visits to make sure the plans are in operation. (JoC dated 01/12-18/04, www.joc.com.)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release stating that Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 was a record-breaking year for the volume of trade entering through U.S. seaports and borders. According to CBP, it collected nearly $1 billion more in revenue for the federal government in FY 2003 than in FY 2002.

According to the State Department, effective January 15, 2004, its Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), through the use of the D-Trade electronic licensing system, is prepared to receive and adjudicate fully electronic defense export authorization requests properly submitted by any U.S. person who is a defense trade registrant and wishes to permanently export unclassified defense articles via the Form DSP-5 or furnish defense services via Technical Assistance Agreements (TAAs).

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice of inquiry announcing that it is considering proposing regulations that would establish procedures that the agency would follow when it has reason to believe that a person has certified and submitted false statements, or engaged in a scheme to certify and submit false statements, in the course of an antidumping (AD) or countervailing (CV) duty proceeding.

On December 22, 2003, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Max Baucus sent a letter expressing concerns about the ability of the Office of Foreign Assets Control to cut off terrorist financing.

Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. The following has been issued since BP's most recent update: