International Trade Administration September 6, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The President's Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa will hold the final meeting of its term to deliberate and consider adopting a report containing recommendations to the President on actions the United States Government could take to mitigate obstacles that U.S. companies face in doing business in Africa, as well as findings from the Council's June 24-July 5, 2018 Fact-Finding Trip to Ethiopia, Kenya, C[ocirc]te d'Ivoire and Ghana, countries the Council identified as holding particular promise of business opportunities for U.S. companies, that was led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Under Secretary for International Trade Gil Kaplan. The recommendations in the Council's report may include updates to recommendations the Council previously adopted on April 18, 2018 for Ethiopia, Kenya, C[ocirc]te d'Ivoire and Ghana, new recommendations that focus on those or other African countries, and recommendations that apply to the African region broadly. The Secretary of Commerce extended the appointments of the members of the PAC-DBIA by 60 days, to expire on November 5, 2018, to allow the Council sufficient time to complete its final report following the Fact-Finding Trip. The final agenda for the meeting will be posted at least one week in advance of the meeting on the Council's website at https://trade.gov/ pac-dbia.

On June 22, 2018, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) published in the Federal Register the preliminary determination of the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation on certain plastic decorative ribbon (plastic ribbon) from the People's Republic of China (China). Commerce is amending the scope of the preliminary determination.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that rubber bands from the People's Republic of China (China) are being or are likely to be sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is July 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.