The Department of Health and Human Services will send the first FDA staffs to China, India, Europe, and Latin America before the end of 2008, according to DHHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.

The first overseas office will be in China. The U.S. government recently secured formal approval for the office from the People's Republic of China. The first staff will be in place in Beijing this year, with additional staff to be posted in 2009. Staff is also scheduled to be posted in Shanghai and Guangzhou next year. The department anticipates a total of eight U.S. nationals in China. Secretary Leavitt is scheduled to travel to China in November to meet with Chinese health officials to review mutual efforts to ensure the safety of food and medical products consumed by the two nations, particularly imported goods.

DHHS plans on establishing its second FDA overseas office in the Republic of India, with staff first posting to New Delhi in 2008 and at least one additional office to follow in 2009. Plans at present are for 10 U.S. nationals to be posted in India. The U.S. government is in the process of pursuing India's formal approval.

FDA activities abroad will include providing technical advice, conducting additional inspections, and working with government agencies and private-sector entities interested in developing certification programs.

HHS will also open FDA offices in Europe and Latin America before the end of 2008, with a fifth office in the Middle East to follow in early to mid-2009.

Department officials are also working to conclude Memoranda of Understanding with Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama. Their collaborations could include information-sharing on their respective regulatory systems and joint workshops and training on the safety of food and medical products.

Increased collaboration and coordination with trading partners and companies exporting goods to the U.S. is a central component of the Import Safety Action Plan proposed in November 2007 by an interagency working group led by Secretary Leavitt. Previously, federal officials relied extensively on inspections at the border to ferret out unsafe goods, an approach that has not kept up with the exponential growth in global commerce. In addition to border checks, the plan called for partnering with producers of goods overseas to build in quality every step of the way.

Some proposals in the action plan require new authorities to be granted by Congress. The administration has repeatedly urged congressional action on these, but to date no legislation has passed. Examples of such proposals include:

Authorize the department to accredit qualified third parties to evaluate compliance with HHS - FDA requirements.

Authorize HHS - FDA to require certification of designated high-risk products as an additional condition of importation.

Grant authority to refuse admission of imports from a firm that delays, limits, or denies HHS - FDA access to its facilities.

Empower HHS - FDA to issue a mandatory recall of food products when voluntary recalls are not effective.

Last year, the U.S. imported more than $2 trillion worth of products from roughly 825,000 importers through over 300 ports-of-entry. Projections indicate this volume will continue to rise sharply over the coming years as the scale and complexity of international trade multiplies.

More information on efforts to improve import safety, including the new report “Import Safety — Action Plan Update,” is available at importsafety.gov.