2013 - Page 2 of 10 - Customs & International Trade Law Firm

Federal Government Shutdown ENDS

Co Authored by Omar Franco

Last night Congress voted to end the first federal government shutdown in seventeen years and avert a default on U.S. debt. The deal brokered between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) provides government funding through Jan. 15, 2014, at almost the same rate as in FY-2013 after automatic spending cuts. The debt limit would be extended through Feb. 7, 2014, if requested by President Obama. The legislation includes a mechanism to allow Congress to block the suspension through action on a resolution of disapproval. The Health and Human Services Department would be required to ensure that health-insurance exchanges verify the eligibility of all individuals applying for tax credits and cost sharing under the Affordable Care Act. Federal employees would be paid for furlough days resulting from the shutdown and members of Congress would be denied their cost-of-living increase in FY-2014.

The Senate passed the bill first with 81 senators voting in favor and 18 voting against the compromise. The House then passed the legislation 285-144, relying mostly on Democratic votes to pass the bill. Alongside the bill, the Senate agreed to a provision that House and Senate leaders would appoint a conference committee to negotiate a budget agreement by Dec. 13.

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-07T10:05:51-04:00October 17, 2013|Export, FDA Issues, U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments

CBP’s 2013 East Coast Trade Symposium in D.C. – HAS BEEN CANCELLED by Government Shutdown

As a result of the prolonged lapse in government funding, CBP’s much-anticipated 2013 East Coast Trade Symposium in D.C. has been postponed. The lapse in appropriations has significantly impacted CBP’s ability to hold the event as planned. Although CBP was hopeful that the appropriations issues would have been resolved by now, and were hoping to proceed as planned, unfortunately, that is not possible. CBP is committed to hosting the event at a later date, and looks forward to announcing the new date as soon as possible.

For those that have registered and paid for their symposium registration, CBP will be refunding your registration fee. The refunds will be processed once the partial government shutdown is concluded.

As soon as CBP announces the new dates for the Symposium, we will let you know.

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-08T16:39:47-04:00October 16, 2013|Events, Import, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments

Impact of Government Shutdown

Co Authored by Omar Franco
The impact of the federal government shutdown, which began October 1, 2013, will be deeply felt by importers and exporters alike. Most government services deemed “essential” by the federal agencies will continue, but “non-essential” services will be discontinued until funding is restored.

This early on, there is no obvious resolution of the budget dispute to tie the FY-2014 government funding to Affordable Care Act (ACA) reforms. Both the House and Senate are entrenched in their positions and they are not scheduled to negotiate any time soon. One side will have to capitulate or bipartisan negotiations will have to lead to a resolution. We feel that negotiations will probably not occur this week as both sides need to assess how the markets and voters will respond to the federal government shutdown. Depending on the public response, we will see movement by one side, probably by Republicans, if the reaction is seen as damaging. As of today, the Dow was up, so the market reaction has been subdued. The reaction from voters is still unknown, but if it is subdued as well, the shutdown will be prolonged. We anticipate the shutdown will last through this week at a minimum.

Some lawmakers are considering broadening the debate by including the debt ceiling. Pressure from resolving the government shutdown could also resolve the debt ceiling issue. The longer the shutdown continues, the more likely the resolution will be tied to the debt ceiling. We […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-08T16:13:19-04:00October 2, 2013|Export, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)|0 Comments

FDA Finally Issues Definition of “GLUTEN FREE”!

FDA issued the update below DEFINING the term “Gluten Free”. As a Celiac, this is extremely exciting news! The reason this is a HUGE deal? Us Celiac’s need to know we can trust food products that are labeled “gluten free”. If they are not, the repercussions are severe, ranging from serious health problems, including nutritional deficiencies, osteoporosis, growth retardation, infertility, miscarriages, short stature, and intestinal cancers…

My sincere hope is FDA will now test imported products that make “GLUTEN FREE” claims, and assure these companies are legitimately using the gluten free claim. Meaning, I hope FDA will enforce and penalize those that are importing misbranded product and not correctly utilizing the gluten free claim! The enforcement tools I will look for include FDA detaining imported product making gluten free claims, and sending them to FDA’s own laboratories to check the parts per million of gluten in the product. If the product contains more than 20 parts per million of gluten, FDA should refuse admission of the product – meaning it would need to be exported or destroyed within 90 days of the refusal, otherwise, companies would face a liquidated damages claim. I also hope FDA will take the added step of adding non-compliant companies to the FDA’s Import Alert (black list) so that the products are AUTOMATICALLY stopped before entering the U.S. and the importer is forced to prove compliance prior to getting FDA to release the goods.

The “Compliance Date” for this final rule is August 5, […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2013-09-26T19:25:00-04:00September 26, 2013|Best Practices, FSMA, Gluten Free, Import, Labeling, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)|0 Comments

Join FDA in Miami to Discuss Major FSMA Proposed Rules

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it will hold two additional public meetings to discuss the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Proposed Rules on Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) and the Accreditation of Third-Party Auditors/Certification Bodies.

The two proposed rules are designed to strengthen assurances that imported food meets the same safety standards as food produced domestically. The FSVP proposal provides requirements for importers to verify that their foreign suppliers are implementing the modern, prevention-oriented food safety practices called for by the FSMA, and achieving the same level of food safety as domestic growers and processors. This will create a new burden for importers to know and trust their manufacturers. I believe we can expect to see enforcement and penalties from FDA – if you have not met your manufacturer yet, now is the time!

The second proposed rule on the Accreditation of Third-Party Auditors/Certification Bodies provides for the strengthening of quality, objectivity, and transparency of foreign food safety audits on which many U.S. food companies and importers currently rely to help manage the safety of their global food supply chains.

The purpose of the FDA’s public meetings is to solicit public comments on the proposed rules and to inform the public about the rulemaking process (including how to submit comments, data, and other information to the rulemaking dockets), and to respond […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-07T10:03:21-04:00September 26, 2013|FDA Issues, Food, FSMA, Import|0 Comments

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