C-AIR TIMES ISSUE #684 - Friday, May 28, 2021 08:09

2021 Memorial Day Weekend Travel Advisory - Port of NY/NJ

Millions Expected to Travel by Air, Rail and Road After Broad Restrictions are Lifted for First Time Since Start of Pandemic

Non-Emergency Construction Work Suspended at All Port Authority Crossings over Memorial Day Weekend to Accommodate Anticipated Higher Traffic Volume

LaGuardia Link Q70-SBS to Operate Fare Free from Thursday to Monday, May 27-31, to Encourage Mass Transit Use for LaGuardia Travelers and Employees

PATH to Operate Saturday Service on Memorial Day, May 31

Reminder: Face Coverings Required in All Port Authority Facilities, Including Airports, Midtown Bus Terminal and on AirTrain

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Federal Register Notices:

FDA Announces Seizure of Adulterated Dietary Supplements Containing Kratom - Food & Drug Administration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that U.S. Marshals, at the agency’s request, seized more than 207,000 units of dietary supplements and bulk dietary ingredients that are or contain kratom, including over 34,000 kilograms of bulk kratom. The dietary supplements are manufactured by Atofil, LLC, which is located in Fort Myers, Florida, and is a subsidiary of Premier Manufacturing Products. The dietary supplements are marketed under the brand names Boosted Kratom, The Devil’s Kratom, Terra Kratom, Sembuh, Bio Botanical, and El Diablo. The seized products are worth approximately $1.3 million.

“There is substantial concern regarding the safety of kratom, the risk it may pose to public health and its potential for abuse,” said Judy McMeekin, Pharm.D., the FDA’s Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs. “The FDA will continue to exercise our full authority under the law to take action against these adulterated dietary supplements as part of our ongoing commitment to protect the health of the American people. Further, there are currently no FDA-approved uses for kratom.”

Mitragyna speciosa, commonly known as kratom, is a plant that grows naturally in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Serious concerns exist regarding the toxicity of kratom in multiple organ systems. Consumption of kratom can lead to a number of health impacts, including, among others, respiratory depression, vomiting, nervousness, weight loss and constipation. Kratom has been indicated to have both narcotic and stimulant-like effects, and withdrawal symptoms may include hostility, aggression, excessive tearing, aching of muscles and bones, and jerky limb movements.

In February 2014, the FDA issued an import alert that provides information to FDA field staff about detaining without physical examination imported dietary supplements and bulk dietary ingredients that are or contain kratom.

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the FDA, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida alleging, among other things, that kratom is a new dietary ingredient for which there is inadequate information to provide reasonable assurance that it does not present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury; therefore, dietary supplements and bulk dietary ingredients that are or contain kratom are adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

CBP Modifies Withhold Release Order on Certain Tobacco Imports from Premium Tobacco Malawi Limited - U .S. Customs & Border Protection

WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has modified an existing Withhold Release Order on imports of tobacco from Malawi.

Effective May 21, 2021, certain tobacco imports from Premium Tobacco Malawi Limited (PTML) will be admissible at all U.S. ports of entry. This modification applies only to tobacco harvested by Club Growers in Malawi. CBP previously prohibited the entry of these imports into the United States based on reasonable suspicion that they were produced using forced labor.

CBP issued a Withhold Release Order on tobacco imports from Malawi in November 2019 due to information reasonably indicating that the tobacco is produced using forced labor and forced child labor. The Withhold Release Order continues to apply to imports of tobacco from Malawi by any company that has not demonstrated to CBP that its supply chain is free of forced labor.

CBP modified the November 2019 Withhold Release Order based on a rigorous evaluation of PTML’s social compliance program and efforts to identify and minimize the risks of forced labor in its supply chain. These actions produced evidence that sufficiently supports PTML’s claims that tobacco from club growers (smallholder growers that use little or no farm worker labor) is not grown and harvested using forced labor or forced child labor.

“CBP’s forced labor enforcement efforts continue to effect positive change for workers around the globe,” said John Leonard, Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade. “Eliminating forced labor from our supply chains prevents the abuse of vulnerable workers, safeguards the competitiveness of law-abiding businesses, and protects consumers from unethically made products.”

This is the third time that CBP has modified the Withhold Release Order on tobacco from Malawi. The agency modified the Withhold Release Order in June 2020 to allow imports of tobacco from Alliance One International, LLC and again in August 2020 to allow imports of tobacco from Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company Ltd. Both entities fully addressed CBP’s concerns about the use of forced labor in their production processes.

Federal statute 19 U.S.C. § 1307 prohibits the importation of merchandise mined, manufactured or produced, wholly or in part, by forced labor, including convict labor, forced child labor and indentured labor. When information reasonably but not conclusively indicates that merchandise within the purview of this provision is being imported, the Commissioner of CBP may issue a Withhold Release Order. Withhold Release Orders direct CBP personnel at U.S. ports of entry to detain shipments containing goods specified by the order.

CBP receives allegations of forced labor from a variety of sources, including the public. Any person or organization that has reason to believe merchandise produced with the use of forced labor is being – or is likely to be – imported into the United States can report detailed allegations by contacting CBP through the e-Allegations Online Trade Violation Reporting System or by calling 1-800-BE-ALERT.

U.S. Department of Commerce Issues First Analysis of Currency Undervaluation as a Countervailable Subsidy - Office of International Trade Administration

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of passenger vehicle and light truck (PVLT) tires from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam; and the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of PVLT tires from Vietnam.

In the AD investigations, Commerce determined that exporters have dumped PVLT in the United States at the following rates:

14.72 to 27.05 percent for South Korea;
20.04 to 101.84 percent for Taiwan;
14.62 to 21.09 percent for Thailand, and;
0.00 to 22.30 percent for Vietnam

In the CVD investigation, Commerce determined that exporters from Vietnam received countervailable subsides. This finding includes Commerce’s first affirmative findings regarding a currency-related subsidy involving the conversion of U.S. dollars into Vietnamese dong at an undervalued exchange rate. This is the second CVD investigation and first affirmative final determination involving the Currency Rule, which Commerce issued in February 2020. The Currency Rule sets out the approach that Commerce takes when investigating an allegation that an undervalued foreign currency provides a countervailable subsidy to foreign producers and exporters in a CVD proceeding. As part of its analysis of such an allegation, Commerce relies on the Department of Treasury’s evaluation and conclusion as to whether government action on the exchange rate has contributed to currency undervaluation. The company-specific countervailing duty rates calculated for Vietnamese respondents in this investigation, which includes this currency-related program, range from 6.23 percent to 7.89 percent. The Currency Rule applies to all CVD proceedings initiated after April 6, 2020.

The petitioner for these investigations is the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC (Pittsburgh, PA).

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently scheduled to make its final injury determinations on or about July 5, 2021. If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD and/or CVD orders. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated, and no orders will be issued.

In 2020, U.S. imports of PVLT were valued at approximately $1.2 billion, $373 million, $2 billion, and $470 million, for South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, respectively.

Read the fact sheet on today’s decision(s).

Drugs, Counterfeit Electronics, Duck Tongues & More Seized by CBP Louisville - U.S. Customs & Border Protection

LOUISVILLE, Ky—Last week, May15 to 22, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Louisville were kept busy inspecting and seizing illegal and unauthorized packages arriving from all over the world.

CBP officers found a plethora of items while inspecting items, like counterfeit driver licenses, 90 to be exact. Some of the other counterfeit items found were $675,200 worth of counterfeit designer watches and $722,750 worth of counterfeit Apple Airpods, an item that has seen a spike in seizures. Most of these items were coming from Asia and heading to various cities throughout the nation.

But the seized items didn’t stop at counterfeit goods. Officers found almost 10 pounds of hallucinogens, mostly marijuana and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a schedule I narcotic. Additionally, officers found almost 5 pounds of stimulants, mostly Buphedrone, over 11 pounds of cathinone designer drugs, almost 30 pounds of synthetic cannabinoids, and 44 pounds of cocaine which would have had a street value of over one million dollars. However, the most dangerous seizure was of 2-and-a-half pounds of Carfentanyl. This amount of Carfentanyl contained 60 million fatal doses, enough to kill the total population of Louisville 60 times.

Additionally, Agriculture Specialists at the Port of Louisville seized seven shipments from Asia heading to the U.S. that contained 1,300 pounds of duck tongues. The duck tongues were destroyed by steam sterilization because of possible Newcastle Disease and Avian Influenza.

“All of these seizures were just in one week, and not all of our seizures were included in this list,” said Thomas Mahn, Port Director-Louisville. “Our officers are on point every night ensuring what is being shipped in the U.S. or to a foreign port is legal, approved and does not violate the safety of our community and others.”

CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations.

Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders. Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.