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 Census Bureau has issued an AES broadcast announcing that due to extremely high volume, filers may experience delays using the AESDirect system on August 13, 2010 and for the next couple of days and should expect delays receiving responses from the AES. The AESDirect support staff is working to secure additional temporary bandwidth and server capacity to handle the increase in load due to the outage on August 12, 2010. Filers using EDI, VPN or AESPcLink will see additional delays, as Census adjusts processing to handle the load. All Electronic Export Information received will be submitted to the AES and all responses from the AES will be processed. (Census advises that a Compliance Alert is triggered when the date of filing is after the date of export. This alert is automatically triggered by the AES and cannot be changed. AESDirect filers who receive a Compliance Alert for shipments exported under the Downtime Policy should keep a copy of the AES Downtime Broadcast, issued on 08/12/2010, along with the ITN(s).) AES broadcast #201044 available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.
On August 13, 2010, the Census Bureau issued an AES broadcast announcing that the power has been restored to the primary datacenter for the AESDirect program and AESDirect is back on-line. All AESDirect program transactions for shipments that moved under the AES Downtime Policy must now be filed along with any new AES transactions. AES broadcast #201043 available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a final rule, effective August 16, 2010, which establishes regulations to codify certain financial institution provisions of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA), which was signed into law on July 1, 2010.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a notice publishing the names of one newly designated individual whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, “Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism."
On August 11, 2010, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose 0.2 percent in June from its May level, rising after one monthly decline. The Freight TSI has risen 4.7 percent over the last 13 months, starting in June 2009, after declining 15.3 percent in the previous 10 months beginning in August 2008. The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then combined into one index. The index measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued its civil penalties enforcement information for August 13, 2010. Compass Bank remitted $607,500 to settle allegations of violations of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations. Custom Polymers, Inc. agreed to remit $57,800 to settle an allegation of violation of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations.
The Department of Transportation has issued a final rule, effective October 1, 2010, to amend certain provisions of its drug testing procedures dealing with laboratory testing of urine specimens. Some of the changes will also affect the training of and procedures used by Medical Review Officers. According to DOT, the changes are intended to create consistency with many, but not all, of the new requirements established by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Federal Trade Commission has issued a final rule correcting the Spanish language text in Sample Label 13, published in FTC's July 19, 2010 final rule which amended the light bulb labeling requirements of the Appliance Labeling Rule. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/22/10 news, 10072228, for BP summary of the July final rule.)
On August 12, 2010, APHIS updated its Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Import PPQ Manual. The manual lists by country fruits and vegetables that are admissible into the United States. It includes a description of methods for sampling and inspecting selected fruits and vegetables. It also contains pictorial identification guides, and a glossary for common and scientific names of fruits and vegetables.