The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has issued a press release stating that its comprehensive review of global trade figures shows that China is racing towards monopoly status in apparel categories that were not covered by quotas in the U.S. and the European Union (EU) in 2005. According to NCTO's analysis, if China continues at its current pace, it will achieve a 70% import share in the U.S. and the EU in these categories within the next 15 months. (NCTO press release, dated 03/02/06, available at http://www.ncto.org/newsroom/pr200602.asp.)

The Journal of Commerce reports that Mexico's maquiladoras, in response to competition from China, have reinvented themselves as high-tech, lean manufacturing enterprises that emphasize quality instead of low wages. According to the article, in 2005, new plants opened and maquiladoras specializing in higher-end products such as auto parts and flat-screen televisions began to expand operations. (JoC dated 02/20/06, www.joc.com.)

In June 2005, the Court of International Trade ruled in International Custom Products (ICP), Inc. v. U.S., that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Notice of Action (Rate Advance) reclassifying certain "white sauce" is null and void as CBP failed to observe 19 USC 1625(c) which requires, among other things, advance notice and comment when such an action would revoke or modify a binding ruling.

(This summary first appeared in ITT on March 2, 2006 06030215. It is amended and reissued in order to reflect the March 1, 2006 version of the 2006 HTS. Also, sections on changed circumstances reviews and email notification are added. The BP Note is also revised to cover the expanded list of allowed non-originating textiles.)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have issued various notices, each initiating automatic five-year Sunset Reviews on the above-listed antidumping (AD) duty orders.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the preliminarily results of its countervailing (CV) duty administrative reviews of low enriched uranium from Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK) for the period of January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004.

Shippers' NewsWire reports that a new survey by the Computing Technology Industry Association indicates that deployment of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) continues to be hampered by a shortage of individuals skilled in the technology. The article states that among the companies that believe there is a talent shortage, 80% said that the lack of individuals skilled in RFID will impact adoption of the technology. (SNW dated 02/27/06, www.americanshipper.com.)

CBP has issued messages on a number of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty actions, many of which (marked by an * in the action column) were previously published in the Federal Register by the International Trade Administration (ITA) and summarized in International Trade Today.

In the February 22, 2006 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 40, No. 9), CBP issued a notice proposing to revoke a classification ruling on antimony trisulphide. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical merchandise.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a press release stating that on February 23, 2006, five out of six Commissioners voted to revoke the existing antidumping (AD) and/or countervailing (CV) duty orders on structural steel beams from Japan (A-588-852) and Korea (A-580-841 & C-580-842).