Port Offices Closed Monday for Presidents Day
Port of Long Beach / http://www.polb.com/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1402&TargetID=1
The Port of Long Beach administrative offices will be closed Monday, Feb. 16 in honor of Presidents Day. Normal business hours will resume Tuesday, Feb. 17..
PierPass: Additional Revisions: Gate Schedules for Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday Holidays
PierPass / http://additional-revisions-gate-schedules-for-lincolns-birthday-and-washingtons-birthday-holidays
Terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach today have announced revised schedules for the Lincoln’s Birthday holiday on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, and the Washington’s Birthday holiday on Monday, Feb. 16, 2015. The latest schedule is posted below, and a PDF of the schedule can be downloaded at http://www.pierpass.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Presidents-Day-Schedule-2015_current.pdf.
Please continue to monitor the websites of individual terminals for potential updates.
PNCT & Maher Terminals Schedule for Monday, February 16, 2015
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Every day U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists inspect imports of flowers, fruit, grain, and seeds to make sure they are free from pests and diseases. Historically, CBP agriculture specialists inspect more cut flowers in cargo, and bouquets in passenger vehicles, between Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, than at any other time of the year.
Although Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day flower bouquets appear to be harmless, they can harbor hidden threats that could seriously damage U.S. agriculture and our natural resources.
In advance of this traditionally busy period for floral imports, CBP is reminding border crossers who plan to import flowers and plants to advise their florist that the arrangements are destined for U.S. delivery. Some flowers and plant materials commonly found in floral arrangements are restricted or prohibited including gladiolas, chrysanthemums and choiysa (a green citrus-like floral filler) due to pest risk. CBP also recommends travelers visit the CBP website’s “Know Before You Go” section here, before you travel.
Flowers may be infested with thrips, which are tiny insects that suck sap from leaves and flowers. Thrips can cause considerable damage and losses to greenhouse grown flowers including carnations, chrysanthemums, and hibiscus.
CBP agriculture specialists also inspect for pathogens, such as Chrysanthemum white rust that may arrive on chrysanthemums or daisies. Rusts are significant diseases that can affect decorative plants and cereal grains.
Often flower bouquets include stems of greenery used to increase fullness. Some types of foliage are listed as Federal Noxious Weeds (FNW). CBP agriculture specialists receive training to be able to identify FNW, in seed form. Other greenery, including flowering branches and stems from apple, cherry, pear, peach, almond, apricot, plum, and English laurel are prohibited because they can be hosts to fruit flies, Asian longhorn beetles, Plum pox virus, plus many other diseases or pests.
CBP agriculture specialists safeguard American agriculture by detecting and preventing entry into the country of plant pests and foreign animal diseases that could harm agricultural resources. They do this with inspection and prevention efforts designed to keep prohibited agricultural items from entering the United States.
The success of CBP's agriculture inspection program in preventing the entry of pests and diseases is a result of cooperative partnerships between stakeholders, CBP, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS is responsible for establishing the regulations and guidelines that govern the import of agricultural products. Private sector floriculture and agriculture stakeholders have become leaders in increasing voluntary compliance with agriculture quarantine policies, working with APHIS and CBP to conduct outreach to improve public awareness of the economic impacts from pest and disease infestations.
More Than 156,000 Hazardous Toys and 15,000 Counterfeit Knives Seized by CBP Baltimore
US Customs & Border Protection / http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/2015-02-06-000000/more-156000-hazardous-toys-and-15000-counterfeit
BALTIMORE — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and import specialists at the Port of Baltimore seized over 156,000 hazardous toys and over 15,000 counterfeit folding knives in two different shipments during the months of September and December 2014. The toys were found to contain hazardous substances and the knives were in violation of protected trademarks.
Working closely with U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) compliance investigators, CBP officials seized a shipment of 156,565 toys from China on September 10, 2014. The toys were seized after CPSC determined that the toys contained lead and a regulated phthalates both in excess of the limit which may be harmful to the health and safety of children.
Children's products, including toys, which are designed or intended primarily for use by children 12 years of age or younger, must not contain a concentration of lead greater than 0.009 percent (90 parts per million) in paint or any similar surface coatings. (The concentration is based on the weight in the non-volatile portion of the dried paint film.)
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) (Public Law 110-314) lowered the concentration of lead in paint that is permissible-from 0.06 percent (600 ppm)-to the new limit of 0.009 percent (90 ppm).
You can find the law in section 101 of the CPSIA and 16 CFR part 1303.
Phthalates are a group of chemicals (oily, colorless liquids) that are used, among other things, to make vinyl and other plastics soft and flexible. CPSC regulation prohibits the sale, distribution or importation into the United States of any children’s toy or child care article that contains concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), or benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP).
“This seizure reflects the level of collaboration between CBP and CPSC professionals,” said Dianna Bowman CBP Area Port Director for the Port of Baltimore. “CBP incorporates CPSC expertise directly in identifying potentially unsafe products arriving in international shipments.”
Import safety is a priority trade issue for CBP. The agency works with CPSC as well as nearly 50 other government agencies to enforce U.S. import regulations and to stop unsafe and illicit goods from entering the country.
Working with CPSC, CBP staff inspected thousands of consumer products that were either in violation of U.S. standards or otherwise unsafe and stopped them from ever reaching store shelves. The hard work of CBP and CPSC staff in fiscal years 2010 through 2013 (10/01/09 – 9/30/13) resulted in more than 23.8 million items across thousands of different children's products being stopped at our nation's ports, due to safety concerns or the failure to meet federal safety standards. [As reported by www.CPSC.gov]
Consumers can view the CPSC website for a complete list of products violating CPSC safety requirements.
CBP officials seized a shipment of 15,004 knives from China on December 10, 2014 after determining that some of the knives were in violation of the U.S. Marine Corps protected trademark and some were in violation of the Batman protected trademark. The shipment of knives had a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $187,962 if genuine.“CBP officers and import specialists are trained to identify and interdict counterfeit goods, and this is a great example of how their training and expertise are employed every day in the Port of Baltimore,” said Bowman. “These counterfeiters are not only cheating the legitimate designers and manufacturers of protected trademark merchandise, but also the public and the U.S. government.”
Violations of trade laws, including violations of intellectual property rights laws can be reported to CBP online here.
For more on CBP’s trade enforcement mission please visit CBP Trade.
Statement by Secretary Jeh C. Johnson on the Consequences to Border Security without a DHS Appropriations Bill
Department of Homeland Security / http://www.dhs.gov/news/2015/02/10/consequences-border-security-without-dhs-appropriations-bill
I continue to stress the need for a DHS appropriations bill for FY 2015, unburdened by politically charged amendments that attempt to defund our executive actions on immigration reform. The President has made plain that he will veto a bill that includes such language.
At present, the Department of Homeland Security is operating on a continuing resolution that expires on February 27. As long as this Department is funded by a continuing resolution, there are a whole series of activities vital to homeland security and public safety that cannot be undertaken. The public must be aware of the real impacts to homeland security as long as DHS is funded by a continuing resolution, or, still worse, if Congress were to permit our funding to lapse altogether and the Department of Homeland Security goes into government shutdown.
Last week I issued a statement noting the impact on DHS’s grant-making activity to states, local and tribal governments as long as we are on a CR. Basically, we are prevented from funding all new non-disaster assistance grants.
The public must also be aware of the impact on our ability to secure the borders as long as we operate on a CR. As part of our executive actions to reform the immigration system, the President and I have emphasized increased border security. Added border security is also a key component of the President’s FY 2015 and FY 2016 budget submissions to Congress. But, as long as this Department is on a CR, and not a full-year appropriations bill, our ability to strengthen border security, to include maintaining the resources we put in place to respond to the surge in illegal migration into south Texas last summer, is constrained.
Here are some concrete examples of things we need to do, but cannot, without a full-year DHS appropriations bill for FY 2015:
- Important investments in border security technology cannot be initiated, including additional resources to upgrade obsolete remote video surveillance systems and mobile video surveillance systems in the Rio Grande Valley;
- Investments to increase our ability to analyze geospatial intelligence cannot be made. This is a capability critical to enhancing situational awareness of illegal border crossings and prioritizing frontline personnel and capability deployments;
- Non-intrusive inspection technology at ports of entry cannot be enhanced. This technology reduces inspection times while facilitating trade and travel, and is necessary to detect illegal goods and materials, such as potential nuclear and radiological threats;
- Critical enhancements to the CBP National Targeting Center’s operational and analytical systems cannot be made. These support our daily operations against transnational criminal organizations by identifying terrorist and criminal threats attempting to cross our borders via land, air and sea; and
- More aggressive investigations by ICE of transnational criminal organizations responsible for human smuggling and trafficking, narcotics smuggling, and cybercrime involving child exploitation and intellectual property rights violations.
Border security is not free. The men and women of DHS need a partner in Congress to fund their efforts. Time is running out. I urge Congress to act responsibly and pass a clean appropriations bill for this Department.
Using Trade Agreements to Fight Wildlife Trafficking
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative / https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/blog/2015/february/national-strategy-combat-wildlife-0#
Stopping wildlife trafficking in its tracks requires an aggressive strategy that uses every tool at our disposal. President Obama’s National Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking recognizes the complexity of this crisis and lays out a clear plan to address it using a whole-of-government approach—including by harnessing the power of trade. The President’s National Strategy and Implementation plan released today looks to existing and future U.S. free trade agreements, environmental cooperation mechanisms, and other trade-related initiatives to help curb wildlife trafficking and strengthen environmental protection. The good news is, we are already working toward these goals.
Take the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement we are negotiating with 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, five of which rank among the world’s most biologically diverse countries, and encompass major consumer and export markets for threatened and endangered wildlife. Of the estimated $70-213 billion dollars in wildlife trafficking and related environmental crime that takes place annually, an estimated $8-10 billion dollars in illegal trade takes place in South-East Asia alone. In TPP we are pressing for groundbreaking and enforceable obligations to combat wildlife trafficking, and because TPP encompasses some of the world’s most ecologically significant regions, and major markets for wildlife and wildlife products, these efforts will potentially make all the difference for endangered and iconic species like rhinos and elephants, as well as reptiles, tropical birds and fish, and the lesser-known but critically endangered pangolin.
As we approach the finish line in these negotiations, TPP is on track to provide protections that will include:
1.ENSURING COUNTRIES IMPLEMENT AND ENFORCE LAWS – All of the TPP countries are parties to the world’s preeminent agreement to protect endangered species—CITES, which aims to facilitate legal, sustainable trade in plants and animals. Through TPP we are pressing to ensure that countries implement their CITES obligations and effectively enforce their laws and regulations that achieve that end.
2.STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL PROTECTIONS FOR WILDLIFE – We are working to include commitments that will spur action to combat trade in wildlife that has been taken illegally. This would include species protected under CITES as well as any other species taken or harvested illegally, resulting in stronger protections for species at risk everywhere.
3.MATCHING NEW PROTECTIONS WITH NEW COOPERATIVE TOOLS – The United States has considerable authority and many tools to share information with other countries to investigate criminals engaged in wildlife trafficking and bring them to justice, but not all TPP countries have similar tools. TPP has the potential to not only enhance U.S. efforts, but also to provide a platform for the other TPP countries to increase information sharing and cooperation to combat illicit trade.
We are pressing to make these commitments a core part of the TPP agreement—subject to the same enforcement mechanism and recourse to trade sanctions in the case of violation as the rest of the commitments in the agreement. Wildlife trafficking is a global problem that requires a global solution. USTR is committed to working with agencies across the U.S. government and with international partners to be part of the solution.