The Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency have jointly established new federal rules that set the first-ever national greenhouse gas emissions standards and will significantly increase the fuel economy of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States. (NHTSA press release DOT 56-10, dated 04/01/10, available at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.f2217bee37fb302f6d7c121046108a0c/?javax.portlet.tpst=1e51531b2220b0f8ea14201046108a0c_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_1e51531b2220b0f8ea14201046108a0c_viewID=detail_view&itemID=3941edcf677b7210VgnVCM1000002fd17898RCRD&pressReleaseYearSelect=2010.)
The Federal Maritime Commission has announced that it will conduct hearings in April concerning vessel capacity and equipment availability in the U.S. export and import liner trades, as part of its investigation on the matter announced on March 17. The hearings will take place on April 6-7, 2010 in San Francisco, CA and April 8, 2010 in Portland, OR. (Notice, dated 03/31/10, available at http://www.fmc.gov/userfiles/pages/file/Factfinding26Hearing.pdf)
The Commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously at their March 31, 2010 meeting to issue in the Federal Register a proposed rule, with changes from the previously posted draft version, on CPSC's interpretation of the term "children's product" as used in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and additional guidance on the factors that must be considered when evaluating what is a children's product. (Webcast available at http://www.cpsc.gov/webcast/previous.html)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a final rule, effective March 31, 2010, containing CPSC's interpretation of the statutory factors it considers in determining civil penalty amounts for "knowing" violations of the prohibited acts in the CPSA, FFA, and FHSA1, as amended by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).
According to the World Trade Organization, global trade is set to rebound in 2010 by growing at 9.5%. Exports from developed economies are expected to increase by 7.5%, while shipments from the rest of the world should rise by around 11%. This strong expansion will help recover some but not all of the ground lost in 2009 when global trade contracted 12.2%. (Press release, dated 03/26/10, available at http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres10_e/pr598_e.htm)
The U.S. Trade Representative's Trade Policy Staff Committee requests comments on what should be included in the scope of the environmental review of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement for the U.S., as well as potential complementarities between trade and environmental objectives, appropriate methodologies, etc. Comments are due by June 1, 2010. (FR Pub 03/25/10, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-6653.pdf)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted its Annual Report to the President and Congress regarding its 2009 activities to protect the public from hazardous consumer products. Among other things, the report includes a description of CPSC's 2009 work on penalties, standards, rulemakings, recalls, and seizures.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Infantino LLC, of California are announcing a voluntary recall and free replacement program for the Infantino "SlingRider" and "Wendy Bellissimo" infant slings.
World Trade Organization Director-General Lamy stated in a recent speech that failure on the Doha Round would spill over into other present and future cooperation efforts, and not only in the trade policy domain. He added that countries simply cannot go their own way and disregard the costs of neglecting international cooperation. (Speech, dated 03/18/10, available at http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/sppl_e/sppl150_e.htm)
U.S. Trade Representative negotiators have completed their third day of Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. Ten negotiating groups met, including industrial goods, agriculture, customs, rules of origin, government procurement, environment, and trade capacity building. TPP negotiators agreed to draft concept papers, exchange information, and undertake other work ahead of the second TPP negotiating round in June as part of their efforts to begin shaping a framework for the negotiation. (Notice, posted 03/17/10, available at http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/blog/2010/march/trans-pacific-partnership-negotiations-update-day-three)