Alcoholic Beverages: Imported
Natural Wine
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has issued a
temporary rule, effective August 24, 2005, which implements new
certification requirements regarding production practices and
procedures for imported natural wine. This rule includes a new
requirement which requires importers to submit copies of
certifications to TTB for use in enforcing the relevant labeling
provisions.
Importers of natural wine must have a certification from the producing
country. The rule requires, except as otherwise provided, an importer
of natural wine to have an original or copy of a certification from
the producing country stating that the practices and procedures used
to produce the imported wine constitute proper cellar treatment. The
certification must be from a governmental or government-approved
entity AND it must include the results of a laboratory analysis
of the wine. In addition,
it must be
in the possession of the importer at the time of release of the wine
from customs custody
but it is not required to be presented as part of the customs entry
process. The certification may cover multiple importations provided
that the wine in each case is of the same brand and class or type, was
made by the same producer, was subjected to the same cellar
treatment, and conforms to the statements made on the certification.
Exemptions: natural wine produced before January 1, 2005; natural wine
imports that are of a personal, non-commercial nature; commercial
samples.
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NS Expands the “1 or 3”
Free
Time Storage Program
Norfolk Southern will
expand the “1 or 3” free time storage program to twelve additional
terminals on Monday, September 19th. The new terminals, in
addition to Beth Intermodal which is already utilizing this program,
are:
Albany, NY - Atlanta,
GA - Austell, GA - Ayer, MA - Baltimore, MD - Charlotte, NC - Croxton,
NJ - Erail, NJ - Harrisburg, PA - Jacksonville, FL -
Morrisville, PA Rutherford, PA
This storage program
ties terminal free time to Norfolk Southern’s service performance and
offers the following free time on all domestic shipments:
-
If the load is grounded within three
hours of our published scheduled availability, free time will be the
day of notification plus the following one day
-
If the load is grounded later than
three hours after our published scheduled availability, free time
will be day of notification plus the following three days
Charges:
Once the free time expires on units at these terminals, standard
storage charges will apply. Note this program only applies to NS rail
storage and will not impact standard per diem or REZ-1 charges.
World Wide Web:
www.nscorp.com/intermodal
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23 Aug 2005,
ST&R
Container Volumes
Up at West Coast Ports
Bloomberg News
reported recently that a number of West Coast ports have seen a
significant rise this year in the number of cargo containers from Asia
as shippers seek to avoid a possible repeat of congestion problems at
Los Angeles/Long Beach. Labor disputes and shortages and
infrastructure limitations have caused backups at the largest US port
complex at crucial times in the past few years, causing carriers to
divert some ships to other ports that have deepened channels, added
capacity, and installed larger cranes. Some of those moves could be
long-term, the article said; in the first six months of 2005, “the
number of full, incoming containers at Los Angeles and Long Beach rose
3.2 percent to 3.39 million standard-size containers,” while those
numbers were 30% and 391,715 for Oakland and 25% and 342,995 for
Tacoma. As a result, LA/Long Beach’s share of all containerized
imports from Asia dropped from 60% in 2001 to 57% in 2004.
Nevertheless, the
Southern California port is likely to remain “the preferred gateway
for Asian imports,” the article said. One shipping executive was
quoted as saying that no other port can match its “combination of
size, capacity, intermodal connections, local consumer market, labor
pool and warehousing.” There are also a number of measures being taken
to help it stay competitive, such as keeping terminal gates open on
nights and weekends and building a second railroad track from Los
Angeles to El Paso.
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Updated on
8/26/2005 - 8:15:00 AM EST
Oakland Port
Reportedly to Set Night Hours
The Port of Oakland plans to open one of
its terminals at night to cope with peak-hour traffic congestion, the
Sacramento Bee newspaper reported Thursday, 8/25/05.
The proposal drew support from about six
truckers and an air district official, the Bee reported.
Peter Schneider, vice president and
general manager of TGS Transportation in Fresno, Calif., told the
paper he supported the plan.
The port is the nation's fourth largest
and ships more than $ 1 billion of agricultural products through it
each year, including about 75% of California’s produce, the Bee said.
Oakland’s move follows the ports of Long
Beach and Los Angeles in Southern California, which opened for night
hours in late July, which officials there said have been working well.
In May, truckers who work the Oakland port
protested a lack of parking at the facility.
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Port
Congestion - Los Angeles and Long Beach
TACA wishes to advise that the suspension
of the Congestion Surcharge at the above ports has been extended for a
further period, through September 30th, 2005.
Meantime, monitoring
of congestion related issues at these ports will continue. Prior to
October 1st, 2005, and depending upon prevailing circumstances, an
announcement will be made confirming either a further period of
suspension, or the re-application of the Congestion Surcharge (which
remains published in relevant TACA Tariffs at $200 per 20ft container
and $400 per 40/45ft container, against an effective date of October
1st, 2005).
This cycle of
monitoring and announcements/tariff adjustments will continue on a
monthly basis, until further notice.
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China - U.S. textile talks fail - official
(Reuters) Updated: 2005-08-31 20:26
Talks
between China and the United States over China's surging textile
exports ended on Wednesday with the two sides still far apart, a U.S.
industry official said, Reuters reported.
|
A
Chinese vendor waits for customers at a clothing market in Beijing
August 31, 2005. China has hardened its line in talks with the
United States over its surging textile exports, dimming hopes of a
deal by the time presidents Hu Jintao and George W. Bush meet in
Washington in a week's time. [Reuters] |
Negotiators had hoped to strike a deal so it could be blessed by
presidents Hu Jintao and George W. Bush when they meet at the White
House next Wednesday.
But Cass
Johnson, president of the U.S. National Council of Textile
Organizations, told Reuters that negotiators had not even narrowed
their differences during two days of talks.
He said
the American team would fly home on Thursday, while U.S. textile
makers would respond to the failure of the talks by seeking to expand
restrictions on Chinese garment exports.
"People
thought there was a good chance of an agreement coming out of these
meetings, but it's clear the Chinese government was not interested in
moving off its position -- and neither was the U.S. government," said
Johnson, one of a number of U.S. industry lobbyists who have been
tracking the talks in Beijing.
U.S. and
Chinese officials have now met four times since Washington imposed
emergency curbs, known as safeguards, in May to restrain a burst of
Chinese exports unleashed by the abolition of global textile quotas on
January 1.
The Bush
administration was already scheduled to decide on Wednesday on
industry requests for emergency restrictions on six more categories of
Chinese clothing and textiles, including bras, sweaters, dressing
gowns and knit fabric.
Johnson
said U.S. textile manufacturers had held off requesting protection in
even more categories in the expectation that this week's talks would
yield progress.
"So now
we will begin filing new safeguard petitions next week on additional
categories," Johnson said. He declined to say which lines of goods
would be affected.
Chinese
spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.
FRAYING
AGREEMENT
China's
textile exports to the United States surged 97 percent to $7.4 billion
in the first six months, setting alarm bells ringing in
textile-producing states and heightening wider fears about China's
growing economic clout. The United States had a $162 billion trade
deficit with China last year.
Negotiators had been eyeing a deal similar to one signed with the
European Union on June 10 that capped growth in 10 lines of textile
exports at 8 to 12.5 percent a year.
China
went along because the EU would have been permitted under World Trade
Organization rules to limit growth in China's textile exports to 7.5
percent a year until the end of 2008.
That
deal has since run into trouble as the new quotas were quickly filled,
leaving a pile-up of more than 80 million made-in-China bras, blouses
and sweaters at EU customs posts.
Industry
officials said earlier that the obstacles in the way of a
Sino-American agreement included the length of any pact, the
categories it would cover, how much Chinese exports would be allowed
to grow each year and the right of the United States to impose new
safeguard restrictions in the future.
Johnson
said no date had apparently been set for new talks.
"What's
striking is that they did not narrow their differences," he said.
"It's hard to see what it's going to take for the two sides to agree."
Textile Group Calls for Permanent China Safeguard, Other Measures
18
Aug 2005, ST&R
The National Council
of Textile Organizations (NCTO) recently issued a press release
setting forth what it called “a five step process to achieving a long
term solution to China’s distorting trade practices in the textile and
apparel sector.” The announcement came just prior to two days of talks
on a textile and apparel trade agreement between the US and China,
which were due to wrap up on August 17.
The NCTO, which
supported the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade
Agreement (DR-CAFTA), called a comprehensive agreement with China “an
important first step.” The group emphasized that such a deal should
extend through 2008 and cover “not only products where safeguard
decisions have occurred or are pending, but also other categories
where China is having a disruptive impact on the U.S. market.” In
addition, it wants domestic manufacturers to be able to file safeguard
petitions on products that are not covered.
The NCTO also called
for a permanent textile safeguard to be maintained against China and
other non-market economy (NME) countries until they “live up to the
full scope of their WTO obligations.” The press release noted that
this mechanism is necessary because US producers are unable to use
antidumping (AD) or countervailing (CV) procedures against textile and
apparel imports from China. Inside US Trade explained that AD
cases are unavailable because there is insufficient domestic
production of competing articles to meet statutory requirements. CV
cases are barred by Department of Commerce (DOC) rules that affect
imports from any NME country, although legislation now pending in
Congress would reverse that.
Other steps urged by
the NCTO include:
• attacking unfair
Chinese trade practices, such as currency manipulation and industrial
subsidization, through WTO cases and US trade law;
• preventing Chinese
textile and apparel exports from gaining further access to the US
market through “loopholes in future trade agreements” such as tariff
preference levels (TPLs); and
• refusing to lower
import duties on textile and apparel products as part of the Doha
Round “until other countries reduce their tariff[s] to US levels.”
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Wisconsin Lab Works on
Post-Bar Code Tech
By
RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer
Sun
Aug 28
MADISON, Wis. - Alfonso Gutierrez smiles as boxes of Kraft Macaroni
and Cheese tagged with tiny chips zip around a conveyor belt and pass
under a reader that instantly displays information about the product.
"It's
going fast," said Gutierrez, who heads a new university research lab
dedicated to helping businesses deploy the technology that could one
day replace the bar code.
Gutierrez was referring to the speed of the conveyor belt — 600 feet
per minute, the speed Wal-Mart uses in its warehouses — but he could
have been talking about the rapid acceptance of radio frequency
identification, a technology that can revolutionize business, but also
erode privacy.
RFID
uses a computer chip the size of a grain of rice to store data, which
are transmitted wirelessly by a tiny antenna to a receiver. The chips,
embedded in tags, now track pallets in warehouses and let drivers pass
toll booths without stopping, but its potential is almost limitless.
To
accelerate deployment, the University of Wisconsin-Madison formally
opened a lab this month to study how to make RFID work better, leaving others to debate the broader issues such as implementation and
privacy.
"RFID
technology and applications are revolutionizing supply-chain
management and are enabling companies to obtain an enormous amount of
data in a short period of time," said Paul Peercy, dean of UW's
College of Engineering. "It's only in its infancy state, but it's
going to affect nearly all industries."
More
than 40 companies, including 3M Co., Kraft Foods Inc. and S.C. Johnson
& Son Inc., are contributing $500,000 combined to start the lab, and
the university is kicking in another $62,000. Other companies can pay
for individual research projects, giving them access to top-notch
scientists without having to fund their own lab.
In
2003, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the
Department of
Defense ordered their top suppliers to start using RFID
technology by this year. The goal was to track products without human
interaction, resulting in fewer misplaced shipments and the ability to
restock store shelves as soon as a product runs out.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Christi Gallagher said the retailer is on track
to have the technology at 13 distribution centers and up to 600 stores
by October, but she said many suppliers have had difficulties finding
tags that fit their products or figuring out how to place them in such
a way that they can be read without outside interference.
About a
dozen of Wal-Mart suppliers are among the chief funders of the
Wisconsin lab, which will be dedicated to finding solutions for such
challenges, including interference from metal products in warehouses
and metal doors on loading docks.
The
conveyor belt that Gutierrez oversaw allows companies to test
different tags and determine which work best and where they should be
placed.
The lab
comprises of a few rooms spread out on three floors of an engineering
building on campus. It has an echo-free chamber that allows
researchers to test the strength of signals from different antennas.
Two floors below, a portal-dock station simulates goods passing
beneath a reader in a warehouse or at a loading dock.
Researchers are looking at ways to embed the chips in the packaging
rather than simply adding them as labels to the outside, allowing
companies to lower costs and position tags correctly.
The lab
also is testing whether permits that hang on the rearview mirrors of
cars can carry tags reliable enough to lift parking lot gates and
whether tags on wristbands can track patients in hospitals.
Patrick
Sweeney, chief executive of ODIN technologies and author of "RFID for
Dummies," said the lab will serve as a trusted source for information
at a time the technology is beset by technical problems and fears of
privacy abuses.
The
technology, around since World War II, got a boost through research at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The four-year effort,
sponsored by Wal-Mart, Gillette Co. and other major corporations,
ended in 2003.
Other
universities, including the University of Florida and the University
of Arkansas, also have RFID labs as do dozens of other corporations.
What
makes UW-Madison's lab unique is its collaboration with industry and
its focus on the physics and engineering behind the technology, said
Sweeney, who has visited other RFID labs elsewhere.
Critics
worry, however, that UW-Madison is contributing to technology that
could ultimately track humans.
One
such fear involves the use of tags in clothing and shoes. If the chips
aren't deactivated at the time of sale, unsuspecting consumers might
essentially be carrying around information about their buying habits,
allowing stores to target them with intrusive marketing pitches the
next time they visit.
"When I
see the move of RFID into universities, it concerns me," said
Katherine Albrecht, a privacy advocate who specializes in RFID
technology and shoppers. "It is sending a message that not only do we have to worry about privacy, but you can profit from it by a career
perspective."
UW
researchers acknowledge the potential for abuse, but insist their work
is more about enabling mechanisms to ultimately make humans safer.
RFID
could be programmed to detect bacteria and recall tainted food,
prevent errors in blood transfusions and ensure that drugs are not
counterfeit, they say.
Already, the tags help parents track children at amusement parks and
help hospital personnel prevent unauthorized people from kidnapping
newborns, said Raj Veeramani, director of a UW consortium of
businesses involved in the lab.
And
former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, recently named to the board of a
company that makes chips to implant into humans, says he may put one
into his arm so that doctors can know his medical history. Federal
regulators approved that use of the technology earlier this year,
though few hospitals are equipped to read the chips.
"It's
wrong to blame the technology. It's the people that develop
applications for it," Veeramani said. "We are still trying to figure
out what role RFID will play in the larger scheme of things."
On the
Net:
http://www.uwrfidlab.org
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CBP Announces New
Procedures for Sealing Inspected Containers
10 Aug
2005, ST&R
CBP has announced
that, effective August 9, only high-security bolt seals compliant with
International Organization for Standardization Publicly Available
Specification 17712 (ISO/PAS 17712) will be used by CBP officers to
seal containerized cargo after they have inspected it. If a carrier
then chooses to fasten an additional seal, the high-security bolt seal
installed by CBP must not be removed, replaced, or manipulated in any
way.
According to CBP,
“containerized cargo” covers merchandise shipped in an enclosed
container or trailer that is capable of having a seal affixed,
notwithstanding the conveyance in or on which it is transported. The
new policy is applicable to containerized cargo arriving, departing,
or transiting the US via sea or land (including trailers, containers,
and rail cars). It does not apply to empty containers or empty/full
containers that are solely screened by non-intrusive inspection
imaging technology.
CBP states that its
officers will notify the appropriate parties of the number of the
container that has been examined and the serial number of the newly
installed high-security bolt seal before the container is released.
This generally involves notifying the broker and/or annotating the
transportation documents.
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Railroad Boasts
"Love" for Truckers
BNSF Celebrates
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week
FORT WORTH, Texas, August
22, 2005:
BNSF Railway Company (BNSF)
honored the nation’s truck drivers by hosting events at BNSF Intermodal
Facilities in Chicago, Ill.; Oakland, Calif.; San Bernardino, Calif.;
Los Angeles, Calif.; and Seattle, Wash. These events celebrated
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, August 22-28.
More than 6,000 truck drivers are expected
to enter these BNSF intermodal facilities during the events, see "BNSF
Really Digs Your Rig" signage and enjoy lunch and refreshments passed
out by BNSF’s truckload sales team and executives from BNSF’s trucking
company partners, such as Gordon Trucking, Schneider National Inc.,
Swift Transportation Co., Inc. and U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc.
In addition to the events in California,
Seattle and Chicago, eight other BNSF intermodal facilities across the
railway’s 32,000-mile network posted banners expressing BNSF’s
appreciation of the nation’s truck drivers.
"These events are our way of saying thanks
to our trucking company partners and their drivers who, along with
railroad employees, are the backbone of ensuring the products American
consumers use daily are delivered safely and efficiently," says John
Hickerson, BNSF vice president, Domestic Intermodal. "By working
together, trucks and trains are providing transportation solutions for
companies across the nation."
Hickerson continues, "Intermodal continues
to be a growth area for BNSF and BNSF’s truckload volume grew nearly
12 percent in the first half of 2005."
"Rail providers like BNSF are a vital link
in today’s transportation and logistics industry. Increasing freight
volume based on the strong U.S. import economy, and the driver
shortage, continue to tax the industry’s resources. Relationships like
the one we have with BNSF bring new capacity solutions to the
marketplace through efficient and cost effective services with high
reliability levels," says Bill Matheson, Schneider National Inc. vice
president and general manager, Intermodal.
"BNSF’s participation in Truck Driver
Appreciation Week is a perfect example of the integration between
truckers and the railroads in this day and age. We have become
connected at the hip, from a strategic perspective," says Patrick
Quinn, incoming Chair, American Trucking Associations, and President,
U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. "The ability for truckers and BNSF to
meet customer requirements rests solely on our ability to maintain a
cost-effective and efficient supply chain and our people are the key.
BNSF appreciates our drivers and we appreciate the partnership that
has developed between our industries."
A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF Railway operates one of the largest
railroad networks in North America, with about 32,000 route miles in
28 states and two Canadian provinces. The railway is among the world's
top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any
other American railroad, transports the components of many of the
products we depend on daily, and hauls enough low-sulphur coal to
generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United
States. BNSF Railway is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety
of customer transactions at
www.bnsf.com.
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United Nations Resolutions
The International Day
of Peace, established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to
coincide with the opening of the General Assembly, was first
inaugurated on the third Tuesday of September, 1982. Beginning on the
20th anniversary in 2002, the UN General Assembly set
21 September
as the now permanent date for the International Day of Peace.
http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
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CBP
OKs Electronic NAFTA Certificates
23
Aug 2005, American Shipper
The U.S. Customs and
Border Patrol is now accepting electronically submitted NAFTA
Certificates of Origin.
CBP issued a directive
(3810-014A) that clarifies customs brokerage industry questions about
the different methods for treating electronically generated
Certificates of Origin in different ports of entry, a client alert
from Pisani & Roll, a law firm specializing in international trade and
customs law, explained.
The alert said the new
CBP directive said that in order to use computer-generated
Certificates of Origin, an importer must seek CBP headquarters
approval in writing prior to using the certificates; and the
computer-generated certificate must contain 10 elements specified in
the directive, which is available on the CBP web site
[http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/legal/directives/3810-014a.ctt/3810_014a.doc].
In addition, an
importer… must have written authorization from the exporting party;
and the importer must have had the electronic certificate in its
possession at the time the claim for preferential duty treatment under
NAFTA was made.
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Customs Tests FTZ e-reportng
22
Aug 2005, JOC Online
Customs and Border
Protection on Oct. 1 will begin testing a system enabling companies in
free trade zones to report import cargo via the Automated Broker
Interface of the Automated Commercial System.
The trial is scheduled
to last six months.
"It's a sensational
deal for us," said Will Berry, executive director of the National
Association of Foreign Trade Zones. "Foreign trade zones
have been deprived of the technology everybody else works in."
Under the current
system, cargo that's admitted to an FTZ is reported to Customs on
paper forms.
The new reporting
system is using Customs' old computer system. Automating foreign trade
zones is part of the plan for the new Automated Commercial
Environment, but it will be the very last piece of ACE to be
completed, around 2010 or 2011.
Berry said that 7
percent of U.S. trade comes into one of the 250 U.S. foreign trade
zones, or 538 sub-zones. Customs recognized that cargo that remained
in an FTZ posed a security risk, since it was not part of the
electronic supply-chain record until formal entry.
Using ACS is a way to
keep track of imports in FTZs, Berry said. It is an interim step, and
eventually the system will be transferred to ACE.
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You
can now check the status of your regular (tourist) U.S. passport
application
online,
using your last name, date of birth, and the last 4 digits of your
Social Security Number.
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