The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that the U.S. and Bahrain were scheduled to launch negotiations on a free trade agreement on January 26, 2004 to lower tariffs and barriers and expand trade between the two countries. According to the press release, subsequent negotiation rounds will alternate between the U.S. and Bahrain with a goal of completing the negotiations by the end of 2004. (USTR press release dated 01/26/04, http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2004/01/04-05.pdf.)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its January 2004 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Modernization newsletter which discusses, among other things, CBP's plans for expansion of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in 2004. The following are "highlights" of CBP's January 2004 newsletter:

(a) Hang Lung and Bee Lian have preliminary de minimis rates of 0.12% (Hang Lung) and 0.14% (Bee Lian). As a result, liquidation is not suspended for these companies nor are cash deposits or the posting of a bond required for AD purposes.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing that the U.S. and Costa Rica have concluded negotiations to finalize Costa Rica's participation in the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has announced that it is reopening until February 23, 2004, the comment periods on three petitions that were filed with the FMC requesting to be exemptor partially exempt from certain provisions of Section 9 of the Shipping Act of 1984 (46 USC app. 1708) (Controlled Carrier Act), which would enable the petitioners to reduce tariff rates immediately, rather than be subject to the thirty-day waiting period prescribed by the Controlled Carrier Act¹.

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).

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 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.

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.

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).