CBP has issued messages on a number of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty actions, many of which (marked by an * in the action column) were previously published in the Federal Register by the International Trade Administration (ITA) and summarized in International Trade Today.

A slate of “dissident” nominees to the Image Entertainment board, if elected, would bring “cronyism” to senior management and raise potential conflicts of interest. That’s according to Image’s preliminary proxy statement filed at the SEC for its annual shareholders meeting scheduled for Oct. 10 in Woodland Hills, Cal. Saying Lions Gate has disclosed in public filings that it’s paying each nominee $20,000 to run, Image said the studio is trying for a hostile takeover after Image rejected its 2 offers to buy the company in fall 2005. Four nominees -- Duke Bristow, Joachim Kiener, Barry Perlstein and Joseph Incandela -- lack the industry expertise needed “to contribute to our company,” Image said. Two who appear to have “pertinent” industry experience -- Jack Crosby and Eric Doctorow -- have had checkered careers at best, Image said. Doctorow, onetime Paramount Home Entertainment chief, joined another key rival -- Ventura Entertainment -- in Nov. 2004, Image said. As COO, his job was to manage Ventura’s distribution pacts with many independent studios, Image said. Less than 2 years after he arrived, Ventura liquidated in an out-of-court bankruptcy settlement, Image said. Recently, Doctorow was hired by Fox Home Entertainment to manage its DVD catalog distribution. His activities “will directly compete with us and our slate of new theatrical releases and direct-to-video projects, as well as the films and episodes of TV programming in our library,” Image said: “It appears from their background, current positions and actions that Lions Gate and its nominees may not be most concerned about protecting ALL of our stockholders’ interests, but rather may be concerned with their own potentially conflicting financial and business interests.”

GENEVA - Though a tremendous amount of work lies ahead in forging global standards for next generation networks (NGN), details emerged Tues. about 16 recommendations given preliminary approval at a coordinated meeting of the NGN-Global Standards Initiative.

The Commerce Department's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has posted to its Web site the following five monthly reports containing official April and/or May 2006 trade data from the Department of Census for imports and exports of textiles and apparel:

GENEVA - Though a tremendous amount of work lies ahead in forging global standards for next generation networks (NGN), details emerged Tues. about 16 recommendations given preliminary approval at a coordinated meeting of the NGN-Global Standards Initiative. The recommendations were the result of about 650 contributions made to ITU’s lead NGN study group, SG13, since it met in Jan., an official said. “ITU-T has been working industriously and steadily on NGN and this is culminating in a number of key deliverables on NGN… that are… setting the stage for the next round of deliverables which will happen within one year,” said John Visser of Nortel, speaking as chmn. of ITU-T study group SG19, which deals with mobile telecommunication networks. The details, not yet announced publicly, reveal more about the NGN specifications that the ITU preliminarily approved recently (WID Aug 1 p4). The specifications were for such things as: (1) Quality of service support to virtual private network services. (2) Functional requirements and architecture for NGNs. (3) IMS for next generation networks. (4) PSTN/ISDN emulation architecture. (5) Admission control functions in NGNs. (6) B-ISDN operation and maintenance. (7) Mobility management requirements. (8) PSTN/ISDN evolution to NGN. The specifications will enter ITU’s 4-week last call for comments Aug. 16. Because of regulatory implications, some recommendations, such as one dealing with security requirements of NGN, will be considered under ITU’s lengthier traditional approval process, which could produce a final decision by April 2007. Regulatory and therefore political considerations of ITU member states make predicting the date for final approval difficult. Work on a spec that received approval last fall was suspended because members couldn’t agree on required changes. Work on “Customizable IP networks… by customers” will continue with the aim of agreeing on text during an undetermined future meeting, documents said.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated new shipper reviews for the antidumping (AD) duty order on honey from China with respect to the following companies, as both the exporter and producer, and review period:

Legislation aimed at managing spectrum auction revenue shows some policymakers want to do more than reduce the federal budget deficit, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. New bills called for using spectrum revenue for public safety communications and to help small businesses, the report said. Although only a few measures made it past preliminary stages, the legislative activity reflects a growing desire among some policymakers for a national spectrum policy, it said. But it’s “an exercise in reconciling divergent interests,” the CRS report said. There’s strong pressure to use the money for the budget, which is the long-standing policy. For some, it is a “desirable policy choice,” the report said. The Deficit Reduction Act, which became law in Feb., sets about $1 billion from auction proceeds for a public safety fund to help with the transition from analog to digital broadcasting. Other pending legislation includes a bill (HR-1323) offered by Rep. Stupak (D-Mich.) that would set aside auction proceeds for grants to improve interoperability in public safety communications. Rep. Rush (D-Ill.) is backing HR-1661 that would create a new category of loan in to help companies bid in spectrum auctions, the CRS report said. Sen. Snowe (R-Me.) introduced S-1767, which would license spectrum for small geographic areas tailored to give regional and smaller wireless carriers a chance for the business. Similar provisions are in the Senate telecom bill (HR-5252), the CRS report said. Sens. Allen (R-Va.) and Stevens (R-Alaska) have introduced separate bills S-2327 and S-2332, respectively, that would allocate new frequencies for unlicenced use such as wireless broadband.

Geneva - A raft of new NGN (Next Generation Networks) specifications and reference materials will enter ITU’s 4-week approval process in August. If approved, they will set the stage in the fall and 2007 for the next array of global NGN standards under development.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty administrative reviews:

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has published its lists of recently completed antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty scope rulings and anticircumvention determinations; terminated scope inquiries; and pending scope and anticircumvention inquiries.