The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice announcing that it is aligning the final determination in the countervailing (CV) duty investigations with the final determinations in the antidumping (AD) duty investigations, of certain lined paper products from India and Indonesia.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty changed circumstances review of certain softwood lumber products from Canada.

The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) has sent a letter to the Secretary of Commerce encouraging him to continue the Commerce Department's long-standing policy of safeguarding competition-sensitive export information as it establishes mandatory filing of data through the Automated Export System (AES). According to an NCBFAA press release, concern arose when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refused to approve regulations clarifying filers' responsibilities under the law and implementing the statutory requirement for mandatory filing through AES. Central to the controversy is a CBP demand for concessions on AES "Option 4" and on the availability of Census data to foreign governments. (NCBFAA press release, dated March 2006) available via email by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Canada for the period of August 1, 2003 through July 31, 2004.

Acer wouldn’t comment on reports Mon. that it plans to release a notebook PC with HD DVD drive next month. Because of the time difference, the company’s Taipei hq couldn’t be reached about the report from the Chinese-language Commercial Times as translated to English by Taiwan’s Digitimes. Richard Black, Acer U.S. mktg. dir.-notebooks, told Consumer Electronics Daily he wasn’t aware of the reports, but as a matter of policy couldn’t comment until the parent company or its U.S. branch announced a product. Acer is an associate member of the HD DVD Promotion Group. It slipped past Toshiba into 3rd place worldwide in notebook shipments in the 4th quarter, according to preliminary data from research firm Gartner.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) is revoking in part the antidumping (AD) duty order on certain cased pencils from China with respect to the pencils described below.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of oil country tubular goods, other than drill pipe, from Korea for the period of August 1, 2003 through July 31, 2004.

LucasArts Entertainment’s Star Wars: Empire at War became the best-selling PC game in the U.S. for Feb. - its first month available, NPD Group said. World of Warcraft from Vivendi Universal games - the best-selling game for Jan. - slipped to #2. But Electronic Arts (EA) had the most games in the top 10, with 3: The Sims 2 at #4 (down 2), Battlefield 2 at #6 (up one) and The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack at #7 (down one). Microsoft’s Age of Empires III was #3 again. Rounding out the top 10 were Take-Two Interactive’s Civilization IV at #5 (down one), Activision’s Call of Duty 2 at #8 (down 3) and NCsoft’s Guild Wars at #10 (up 2)… EA’s Black for PS2 was again the #1-selling videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended March 12. The Xbox version was again #2. EA had 4 other SKUs in the top 10: Fight Night Round 3 for PS2 at #3 again in its 3rd week, Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PS2 at #4 again in its 17th week, the Xbox version of Fight Night Round 3 at #5 again in its 3rd week and the Xbox version of Most Wanted at #10 (down one, 17th week). Rentrak said the only new game in the top 10 was Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 3: Advance War Fighter for Xbox at #9. Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike for Xbox was #7. Rounding out the top 10 were Eidos’s 25 To Life on PS2 at #6 again in its 8th week and LucasArts’ Star Wars Battlefront II for PS2 at #8 (down one, 19th week).

Effective May 1, 2005, the International Trade Administration (ITA) is revoking the countervailing (CV) duty order on brass sheet and strip from France as it has determined in the final results of a full sunset review that revocation of the CV duty order would not be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of a countervailable subsidy.

Privacy and legal concerns over search engines are multiplying as search technologies become more exact and more users place and seek out information online, experts told a Pike & Fischer teleconference Wed. Search engines compile profiles of what users look for and routinely release data on those searches divorced from personally identifiable information, said SearchEngineWatch.com Founder Danny Sullivan. The trouble comes in high-profile cases like the Dept. of Justice’s (DoJ) subpoena for Google searches (WID March 15 p7), where the demands are unreasonable, he said. The question becomes what will be sought next, Sullivan said.