Department of Homeland Security May 27, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard will enforce the Biotechnology Industry Organization firework display safety zone on June 23, 2014. This marine event occurs on the navigable waters of San Diego Bay, immediately to the west of the USS MIDWAY, in San Diego, California. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of the participants, crew, spectators, safety vessels, and general users of the waterway. During the enforcement period, persons and vessels are prohibited from entering into, transiting through, or anchoring within this regulated area unless authorized by the Captain of the Port, or his designated representative.

The National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) will meet Thursday, June 12, 2014, at the United States Access Board, 1331 F Street NW., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20004. The meeting will be open to the public.

This document adopts as a final rule, with some changes, interim amendments to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations which were published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2000, as T.D. 00-67, and later amended by T.D. 03-15 published in the Federal Register on March 21, 2003, to implement the trade benefit provisions for sub-Saharan Africa contained in Title I of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, as amended. The trade benefits under Title I, also referred to as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), apply to sub-Saharan African countries designated by the President and involve: The extension of duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to non-textile articles normally excluded from GSP duty-free treatment that are not import-sensitive; and the entry of specific textile and apparel articles free of duty and free of any quantitative limits. The regulatory amendments adopted as a final rule in this document reflect and clarify the statutory standards for preferential tariff treatment under the AGOA, as amended by section 3108 of the Trade Act of 2002 and include other amendments necessitated by passage of the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004 and the Africa Investment Incentive Act of 2006. This final rule includes specific documentary, procedural and other related requirements that must be met in order to obtain preferential treatment. This document also adopts as a final rule interim amendments to the CBP regulations implementing the GSP which were included in T.D. 00-67 to conform those regulations to previous amendments to the GSP statute. Moreover, this document adopts as a final rule other changes to the AGOA implementing regulations made by T.D. 03-15 to clarify several issues that arose after their original publication.