Tighter lobbying restrictions haven’t dampened spending significantly, according to preliminary Senate disclosure reports filed Monday, the deadline for second quarter filings. CEA’s lobbying spending went up to $480,000 Q2 from $360,000 from Q1, the reports show. The NAB spent $3.3 million in the quarter, up from $2.6 million first quarter. Sprint-Nextel reported an increase to $756,000 from $550,000. TIA’s spending rose to $195,000 from $190,000. But Qualcomm’s spending declined slightly to $1.5 million from $1.6 million. Qwest’s total dropped to $821,000 from $980,000. T-Mobile reported a decline to $690,000 from $903,000. Second-quarter reports from AT&T, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, the NCTA and USTelecom weren’t available right away.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has posted the statement from USTR spokeswoman Carol Guthrie on the recent conclusion of the 5th round of negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that was held in Rabat on July 16 and 17, 2009. Participants in this meeting agreed that the next round will be hosted by the Republic of Korea in November 2009. With regard to the progress of negotiations, participants confirmed their intention to conclude the agreement as soon as possible in 2010. (Press Release, dated 07/20/09, available at http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2009/july/statement-ustr-spokeswoman-carol-guthrie-anti-counte-0)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its mitigation guidelines for the assessment and cancellation of claims for liquidated damages for failure to comply with the requirements of the 10 2 interim final rule.
The “romantic foibles” of Canada’s 12 million Facebook users could be exposed if Facebook doesn’t change some of its data collection and retention policies, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said in a report judging allegations by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. The social network is in violation of Canadian privacy law through its indefinite retention of user data, even after users have deactivated their accounts, and by keeping loose reins on third-party application developers, the office said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its mitigation guidelines for the assessment and cancellation of claims for liquidated damages for failure to comply with the requirements of the 10 2 interim final rule.
The International Trade Administration frequently issues notices on antidumping and countervailing duty orders, investigations, etc. which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued, neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period, etc.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel has posted to its Web site monthly reports containing official May 2009 trade data from the Census Department for U.S. imports and exports of textiles and apparel.
The International Trade Administration has issued an affirmative preliminary determination of circumvention for the antidumping duty order on certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate from China.
The International Trade Administration has issued the final results of its antidumping duty administrative review of stainless steel bar from Brazil for the period of February 1, 2007 through January 31, 2008.
House Commerce Committee legislation (HR-3125) ordering an inventory of federal spectrum takes a more detailed approach than a similar bill the Senate Commerce Committee approved on Wednesday (CD July 9 p1). The Senate bill seeks identification of services on bands spanning 300 MHz to 3.5 GHz, while the House would examine a broader swath from 225 MHz to 10 GHz. The House bill also explicitly would ask the FCC and NTIA to provide recommendations for reallocation of the “least utilized” spectrum detected in the inventory, and provide an explanation for their suggestions.