Today's Import and Export News and Notes

Today's import and export news and notes:

Miscellaneous

An interesting trade-related cartoon in the op-ed section of yesterday's New York Times shows importance of U.S. National Export Initiative.

Export Controls and Sanctions

House Foreign Affairs Committee to markup bill (HR 4645) on September 29th that would end Cuba travel restrictions.

Politico: Retired generals urge U.S. to lift Cuba travel ban.

Washington Times: India continues to press US to remove govt organizations from BIS Entity List (see our comment on this issue here).

Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart A. Levey spoke last week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the effectiveness of sanction on Iran.  The transcript and video of his testimony can be found here.

New GAO Report: Defense Exports: Reporting on Exported Articles and Services Needs to Be Improved.

VOA: Targeted U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe to stay until human rights situation improves. 

Next meeting of Defense Trade Advisory Group (DTAG) will take place in Washington, DC on October 20, 2010. 

Foreign Policy: How U.S. Sanctions Made Haystack (discussing anti-censorship software intended for Iran). 

Customs

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) publishes quarterly interest rates applied to overpayments and underpayments of customs duties. 

CBP announces that Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program (C-TPAT) reaches 10,000 members.

CBP issues 2010 C-TPAT Partner Survey (information on costs and benefits of C-TPAT program).

Upcoming Programs of Note

The North Texas District Export Council is holding a full day FCPA conference in Dallas on Oct. 13, 2010. Program will include experienced practitioners, including in-house and outside counsel. Details of the FCPA program can be found here.

NACM Oregon to present Incoterms® 2010 program in Portland on November 9, 2010 (Doug Jacobson is speaker). Program details and registration can be found here. A similar Incoterms 2010 program will be presented in Seattle (near SEATAC) on November 11, 2010.