The Commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission will hold an open briefing on December 2, 2009 to consider two issues related to Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 testing and certification and one regarding drywall.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released its 2009 Annual Report to Congress on November 19, 2009. In addition to security issues (especially cyber warfare), the report discusses the U.S.-China trade relationship, China's currency, its violations of World Trade Organization commitments, and new Chinese laws and policies that may restrict foreign access to China's market. The report offers 42 recommendations for Congressional action. Executive Summary is available here.(Report, posted 11/19/09, available at http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2009/annual_report_full_09.pdf)
Many Web sites mis-selling ring tones and other mobile phone services cleaned up their act after a European Commission (EC) crackdown, Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said on Tuesday. An EC enforcement “sweep” launched in June 2008 netted 301 Web sites across the 27 EU states, Norway and Iceland found to be scamming consumers seeking ring tones, wallpaper and other services, she said. Of those, 52 percent were corrected and 17 percent of the Web sites have closed, she said. The three main problems were unclear pricing, failure to provide complete contact information, and misleading advertising, particularly when ring tones offered as “free” instead tied buyers into paying subscriptions, she said. More than half of the sites investigated targeted children through the use of cartoon or well-known TV characters, and many had multiple irregularities, the EC said. Ring tones accounted for about 29 percent of Europe’s overall mobile content market in 2007, bringing in an estimated $1 billion, it said. The EC targeted the mobile phone services sector for enforcement because of growing consumer complaints, it said. This sweep and an earlier one on Web sites selling airline tickets are ratcheting up pressure to comply with consumer protection laws, Kuneva said. National authorities are working together more effectively and homing in on problem areas of the consumer market more precisely, she said. The increased media attention is deterring bad business practices and raising consumer awareness, she said. The investigations are “a totally new way of doing business at the EU level,” she added.
Many Web sites mis-selling ring tones and other mobile phone services cleaned up their act after a European Commission (EC) crackdown, Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said on Tuesday. An EC enforcement “sweep” launched in June 2008 netted 301 Web sites across the 27 EU states, Norway and Iceland found to be scamming consumers seeking ring tones, wallpaper and other services, she said. Of those, 52 percent were corrected and 17 percent of the Web sites have closed, she said. The three main problems were unclear pricing, failure to provide complete contact information, and misleading advertising, particularly when ring tones offered as “free” instead tied buyers into paying subscriptions, she said. More than half of the sites investigated targeted children through the use of cartoon or well-known TV characters, and many had multiple irregularities, the EC said. Ring tones accounted for about 29 percent of Europe’s overall mobile content market in 2007, bringing in an estimated $1 billion, it said. The EC targeted the mobile phone services sector for enforcement because of growing consumer complaints, it said. This sweep and an earlier one on Web sites selling airline tickets are ratcheting up pressure to comply with consumer protection laws, Kuneva said. National authorities are working together more effectively and homing in on problem areas of the consumer market more precisely, she said. The increased media attention is deterring bad business practices and raising consumer awareness, she said. The investigations are “a totally new way of doing business at the EU level,” she added.
"Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions" is a regular feature of International Trade Today. The following are brief summaries of recent Capitol Hill actions.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is announcing that it will hold a two-day public workshop in December to discuss certain options and related issues for implementing the testing, certification, and labeling requirements of Section 14 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, as amended by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA1).
On October 28, 2009, Senator Brown (D) and four co-sponsors1 introduced S. 1982, the Trade Enforcement Priorities Act, to renew and extend provisions relating to identification of trade enforcement priorities, and for other purposes.
Previous U.S. trade agreements are the best guide for understanding what’s likely to come out of the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) discussions among countries that account for half of world trade, a U.S. Trade Representative official said last week. “Far from speculating” about what could be in the new agreement, as many public-interest groups have done, “I can tell you” what the U.S. is pushing to be included, Stanford McCoy, assistant USTR for intellectual property and innovation, told an American University law school audience.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued notices extending the deadlines for the submission of comments on three draft guidances for industry on minimizing microbial food safety hazards of leafy greens, melons, and tomatoes.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a notice, effective October 30, 2009, withdrawing its interim rule which was to raise fiscal year 2010 user fees on November 1, 2009, for agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) services provided in connection with certain commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international airline passengers arriving at ports in the customs territory of the U.S.