In testimony before a House Subcommittee1, the Government Accountability Office recommends that the Food and Drug Administration strengthen its oversight of imported food by improving enforcement and seeking additional authorities.
On his second day in Hanoi, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Marantis conducted intensive discussions with Vietnamese government officials on a wide range of regional and bilateral issues. Ambassador Marantis also met with Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang. They discussed their goals for the second round of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, to be held in San Francisco during the week of June 15, and how to develop it into a high-standard, 21st century regional trade agreement. He also underscored important bilateral issues affecting industrial goods, agricultural goods, and intellectual property.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel has posted to its website monthly reports containing official April 2010 trade data from the Census Department for U.S. imports and exports of textiles and apparel.
The International Trade Data System states the ACE Helpdesk (Technical Support Center [TSC] 1-800-927-8729M) is having difficulty in identifying PGA users in order to reset their ACE passwords. The TSC staff is currently unable to display or locate valid PGA users in the ACE system user registry known as ITIM.
The President has reported to Congress that it is in the national interest of the U.S. to terminate the suspensions under the Foreign Relations Authorization Act with respect to the issuance of permanent munitions export licenses for exports to China insofar as such restrictions pertain to the LightScanner® 32 System used for gene mutation genotyping for individualized cancer treatment. License requirements remain in place for these exports and require review on a case-by-case basis by the U.S. Government.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service has announced that it will hold a series of public meetings, with the first on June 14, to discuss and receive public input on its draft proposed guidance concerning Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Validation for meat and poultry establishments.
The Government Accountability Office has issued testimony (GAO-10-721T) for a Senate Committee regarding Iran sanctions and the number of firms reported to have commercial activity in the Iranian energy sector and U.S. government contracts.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted an online registration form for the second meeting of the Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel on July 26-28, 2010. The panel must recommend to CPSC any phthalates, combination of phthalates, or phthalates alternatives that, in addition to those permanently banned by the CPSIA, should be declared banned hazardous substances.