Notice of Product Exclusions: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation (Section 301) - U.S. Customs & Border Protection
BACKGROUND:
On December 28, 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative published Federal Register Notice 83 FR 67463 announcing the decision to grant certain exclusion requests from the 25% duty assessed on goods of China with an annual trade value of approximately $34 billion (Tranche 1), as part of the action in the Section 301 investigation of China's acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. The product exclusions announced in this notice will apply as of the July 6, 2018 effective date of the $34 billion action (see Federal Register 83 FR 28710), and will extend for one year after the publication of this notice.
At the conclusion of the government funding hiatus, CBP will issue instructions on entry guidance and implementation. Any updates to the Automated Customs Environment (ACE) will be implemented 10 business days after the shutdown has concluded. Until these updates are completed, entry and entry summaries must be submitted without the Chapter 99 product exclusion number referenced in 83 FR 67463. Entry and entry summaries will be rejected by ACE if the Chapter 99 product exclusion number referenced in 83 FR 67463 is transmitted.
Once CBP issues guidance and implements ACE enhancements, a Post Summary Correction (PSC) or a Protest may be submitted for a refund.
After the funding hiatus, questions from the importing community concerning ACE rejections should be referred to their ABI Client Representative.
Women’s Iron Complete Supplements Recalled by GNC Due to Failure to Meet Child Resistant Closure Requirement; Risk of Poisoning - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Recall Details
Description: This recall involves Women’s Iron Complete Dietary Supplement 60-count caplets. The recalled dietary supplement is in a white box with “Women’s Iron Complete” printed on the front in gray and red font. The box contains blister packets with a total of sixty caplets.
Remedy: Consumers should keep these products out of the reach of children and contact GNC for instructions on how to obtain a refund. Consumers can return the unused product to their local GNC store for a refund.
Incidents/Injuries: None reported
Sold At: GNC retail stores nationwide and online at www.gnc.com from September 2000 through August 2018, and online at www.drugstore.com from September 2000, through August 2016 for about $10.
Manufacturer(s): Nutra Manufacturing, Inc., of Greenville, S.C. (a GNC Company)
Distributor(s): General Nutrition Corp., of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Manufactured In: United States
Recall number: 19-055
USDA Updates Available Functions During Lapse in Funding - U.S. Department of Agriculture
(Washington, D.C., December 28, 2018) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today updated its assessment of how the lapse in federal funding will affect services and programs should the government shutdown remain unresolved beyond December 31, 2018. Many services will carry on, while others will discontinue on January 1, 2019 because available funds have been expended.
Certain USDA activities would remain active because they are related to law enforcement, the protection of life and property, or are financed through available funding (such as through mandatory appropriations, multi-year discretionary funding, or user fees). During the first week of the shutdown, 62% of employees have been either exempted or excepted from shutdown activities. If the shutdown continues, this percentage would decrease, and activities would be reduced as available funding decreases.
USDA activities that will continue beyond January 1, 2019 include:
- Meat, poultry, and processed egg inspection services.
- Grain and other commodity inspection, weighing, grading, and IT support services funded by user fees.
- Inspections for import and export activities to prevent the introduction and dissemination of pests into and out of the U.S., including inspections from Hawaii and Puerto Rico to the mainland.
- Forest Service law enforcement, emergency and natural disaster response, and national defense preparedness efforts.
- Continuity and maintenance of some research measurements and research-related infrastructure, such as germplasm, seed storage, and greenhouses.
- Care for animals, plants, and associated infrastructure to preserve agricultural research and to comply with the Wild Horses and Burros statute.
- Eligible households will still receive monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for January.
- Most other domestic nutrition assistance programs, such as the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, WIC, and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, can continue to operate at the State and local level with any funding and commodity resources that remain available. Additional Federal funds will not be provided during the period of the lapse, however deliveries of already-purchased commodities will continue.
- The Child Nutrition (CN) Programs, including School Lunch, School Breakfast, Child and Adult Care Feeding, Summer Food Service and Special Milk will continue operations into February. Meal providers are paid on a reimbursement basis 30 days after the end of the service month.
- Minimal administrative and management support, including to excepted IT systems and contracts, will be maintained to support the above activities.
- Natural Resources Conservation Service offices will remain open to support conservation technical and financial assistance (such as Environmental Quality Incentives Program and easement programs).
- Market Facilitation Program payments for producers that have already certified production with the Farm Service Agency.
- Trade mitigation purchases made by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.
- Agricultural export credit and other agricultural trade development and monitoring activities.
- USDA’s Market News Service, which provides market information to the agricultural industry.
USDA activities which would not be continued include:
- USDA Farm Service Agency county offices will close at the end of business on Friday, December 28, 2018.
- Provision of new rural development loans and grants for housing, community facilities, utilities and businesses.
- Recreation sites across the U.S. National Forest System, unless they are operated by external parties under a recreational special use permit, will be closed. While technically closed, many will still be physically accessible to visitors at their own risk, but without staffing at ranger stations and without access to facilities such as public restrooms.
- New timber sales.
- Most forest fuels reduction activities in and around communities.
- NASS statistics, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, and other agricultural economic and statistical reports and projections.
- Assistance for the control of some plant and animal pests and diseases unless funded by cooperators or other non-appropriated sources.
- Research facilities except for the care for animals, plants and associated infrastructure to preserve agricultural research.
- Provision of new grants or processing of payments for existing grants to support research, education, and extension.
- ERS Commodity Outlook Reports, Data Products, research reports, staff analysis, and projections. The ERS public website would be taken offline.
- Most departmental management, administrative and oversight functions, including civil rights, human resources, financial management, audit, investigative, legal and information technology activities.
- Mandatory Audits (Financial Statements, FISMA, and potentially Improper Payments) will be suspended and may not be completed and released on the date mandated by law.
For more information, please view a summary of USDA’s shutdown plans (PDF, 75.2 KB).
In addition, you may view a list of shutdown plans by USDA agency and office. Note that the National Finance Center information can be found on pages 7 to 9 of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) document on that page.
FDA Issues Uniform Compliance Date, Technical Amendments on Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labeling Rules - Food & Drug Administration
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that January 1, 2022, will be the uniform compliance date for final food labeling regulations that are issued in calendar years 2019 and 2020. All food products subject to the January 1, 2022, uniform compliance date must comply with the appropriate labeling regulations when initially introduced into interstate commerce on or after January 1, 2022. This action does not change existing requirements for compliance dates contained in final rules published before January 1, 2019.
The FDA issues regulations that sometimes require changes in the labeling of food. Since 1996, the agency has periodically announced uniform compliance dates for new food labeling requirements to minimize the economic impact on the food industry of having to respond separately to each change.
Occasionally, the FDA will set specific compliance dates that are earlier or later than the uniform compliance date when appropriate. For example, when the FDA published two final rules regarding revisions to the Nutrition Facts and Supplements Facts Labels in May 2016, manufacturers were given more time to comply with the rules than the date prescribed by the uniform compliance date for food labeling regulations issued in calendar years 2015 and 2016. Then in May 2018, FDA extended the compliance dates for the rules from July 26, 2018, to January 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales, and to January 1, 2021, for manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales.
FDA also today issued a final rule that provides technical amendments to the two regulations concerning Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labeling that were published May 27, 2016. Among the revisions made, the amendments correct errors made in some sample label illustrations, restore several inadvertent deletions, correct citations to three cross-references, and remove a sentence regarding the font size and bolding requirement for the “Calories” declaration in dietary supplement labels.
For example, the technical amendments correct information about dietary fat in section 101.9(c)(2). This section, as published in the final rule on May 27, 2016, addressed total fat, but information about saturated fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat was inadvertently deleted. Another deletion that was corrected pertains to the use of an address or telephone number where consumers can obtain nutrition information for certain products in small packages, as described in section 101.9(j)(13)(i)(A).
The rule also includes other minor revisions. For example, some sample Nutrition Facts labels included a line directly beneath “Saturated Fat” that did not extend completely to the left edge of the label, and one sample label omitted information regarding the number of servings per container as well as the serving size. A sample Supplement Facts label listed “sucrose,” rather than “sugar,” in the ingredients list. These and other errors, including a spelling error, are being corrected through the technical amendments.
The final rule on technical amendments does not change the compliance dates for the final rules on the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Denver International Airport (DEN) unveil first of its kind screening technology in the U.S. - Transportation Security Administration
DENVER – In partnership with the Transportation Security Administration, Denver International Airport (DEN) is the first U.S. airport to operate next generation Enhanced Advanced Imaging Technology (eAIT) for checkpoint security screening. The new equipment has enhanced detection capabilities that improve security and may help ease the passenger experience.
“Our strong partnership with TSA has allowed us to once again bring in new screening technology to DEN that will improve the passenger screening process while enhancing security,” said airport CEO Kim Day. “Much like the new automated screening lanes installed this fall, we will test this new screening equipment in hopes of a wider implementation once the new screening area on Level 6 is constructed.”
TSA uses Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) to safely screen passengers for metallic and nonmetallic threats including weapons, explosives and other objects concealed under layers of clothing without physical contact. This technology uses non-ionizing radio-frequency energy in the millimeter spectrum, which is safe and meets national health and safety standards.
“TSA is committed to evaluating and deploying the best cutting-edge technologies to keep passengers secure and improve the screening experience,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Our partnership with DEN is a great example of how we can work with airports and private industry to move technology forward.”
The new eAIT system has several benefits, but most noticeable to passengers will be the relaxed stance, which means that instead of holding their arms over their heads, they can keep them down and close to their sides. The actual scan takes less than a second, and the addition of two screening stations allows those who need additional screening to move to a separate area until they are cleared by a TSA officer.
With the collaboration from TSA, DEN has installed one new eAIT system in the north security checkpoint next to the new automated screening lanes installed in September.