At a June 17, 2009 mark up of the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2749), the House Energy and Commerce Committee adopted a new version of the measure as an amendment in the nature of a substitute.1
On June 10, 2009, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee held a mark up of H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 in which the Subcommittee adopted an amended version of H.R. 2749 (an amendment in the nature of a substitute).
On May 27, 2009, the House Energy and Commerce Committee posted a discussion draft of comprehensive food safety legislation, called the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.
In light of an "agreement in principle" recently reached with the European Union in the long-standing EU - beef hormones dispute, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has announced that it will delay certain sanction modifications that were due to take effect May 9, 20091, in order to allow time for the provisional agreement to be finalized.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has released its 2009 "Special 301" annual report on the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection by U.S. trading partners.
On April 22, 2009, Senator Sherrod Brown1 addressed the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) to discuss U.S. trade policy. Highlights of his written remarks include the following:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has published in the Federal Register its notice of initiation of a Section 301 investigation and determinations therein, which imposes an additional 10% duty on imports of certain softwood lumber products of Canada, whose Region of Origin is Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, or Saskatchewan, in response to Canada's failure to cure its breach of the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement between the U.S. and Canada (SLA 2006) or provide the monetary compensation determined by a SLA arbitral tribunal. The additional duty is effective for products that are entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after April 15, 2009. (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/08/09 news, 09040805, for previous BP summary.) (D/N USTR-2009-0011, FR Pub 04/10/09, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-8232.pdf)
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a proposed rule to amend its regulations to provide for the resumption of imports of certain wooden handicrafts from China under certain conditions.
U.S. Trade Representative Kirk has announced that the U.S. will impose an additional 10% duty on imports of certain softwood lumber products of Canada, whose Region of Origin is Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, or Saskatchewan, in response to Canada's failure to cure its breach of the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement between the U.S. and Canada (SLA 2006) or provide the monetary compensation determined by a SLA arbitral tribunal.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has published in the Federal Register a proposed rule that would establish guidelines and requirements for mandatory recall notices ordered by (i) the CPSC or (ii) by a U.S. District Court under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).