The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice announcing the opportunity to request administrative reviews of the following antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders or suspended investigations:

(a) The ITA states that La Pointe & Roy, as both producer and exporter, has a de minimis CV rate of 0.08%. As a result, suspension of liquidation continues, but at a CV cash deposit rate of zero.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has made a preliminary affirmative antidumping (AD) duty determination that floor-standing, metal-top ironing tables and certain parts thereof from China are being sold, or are likely to be sold, in the U.S. at less than fair value.

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued its 2003 Management Discussion and Analysis report covering fiscal year (FY) 2003 audited financial statements. The FMC states that this is the first-ever FMC report of this nature.

On October 27, 2003, the State Department published a final rule that amended the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to indicate that exporters that are required to report shippers export information for U.S. Munitions List (USML) hardware must use the Automated Export System (AES).

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued two notices announcing that it has received two new, similar petitions as described below. According the FMC, interested persons are requested to submit comments on these petitions on or before February 13, 2004.

The State Department has issued a notice announcing that on February 4, 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia changed its name to "Serbia and Montenegro."

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a report entitled, International Trade: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Faces Challenges in Addressing Illegal Textile Transshipment in response to requests from the Chairmen and Ranking Minority Members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that the European Union (EU) is poised to impose trade sanctions on billions of dollars of U.S. goods starting in March 2004, as congressional leaders signaled their inability to reach agreement on repeal of the U.S. Foreign Sales Corp./Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act (FSC/ETI) tax regime. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled this tax deduction illegal and given the EU permission to impose as much as $4 billion in sanctions a year. According to an EU official, if the law isn't repealed, the EU is certain to retaliate starting March 1, 2004. (WSJ Pub, 01/26/04, www.wallstreetjournal.com)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice stating that it is postponing until no later than April 19, 2004 (from February 14, 2004) the preliminary countervailing (CV) duty determination on carbazole violet pigment 23.