The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet and strip from India (A-533-824) (here). Rates calculated in this review will be used to set assessment rates for importers of subject merchandise from six exporters that was entered July 2013 through June 2014.
Three coalitions of industry and public interest groups filed amicus briefs with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans Monday supporting Google's bid to sustain a preliminary injunction barring Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood from enforcing his subpoena of the company’s search practices. Hood, a Democrat, filed an appeal with the 5th Circuit in late March. That was after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ordered the preliminary injunction because there was a “substantial likelihood” that Google would prevail in its lawsuit against Hood on claims he violated the company’s First Amendment rights (see 1504010029). If Hood is “allowed to continue, the pressure tactics employed by the Attorney General here would send a dangerous message to large and small service providers, as well as the Internet users who rely on their platforms to communicate, learn, and organize online,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy and Technology and other groups in a joint brief. “That message would stifle innovation, chill online speech, and flout the public’s First Amendment interest in an uncensored Internet.” The Computer & Communications Industry Association, CEA and Engine also urged the 5th Circuit to affirm the injunction. They said in a joint brief that “although state law enforcement officials are not wholly precluded from enforcing state laws that affect the Internet, Congress unambiguously intended to limit states’ ability to regulate Internet intermediaries’ display of third party content -- which is precisely what Attorney General Hood seeks to do here.” Hood “does not, and cannot, demonstrate any compelling interest in the wholesale gathering of information about a wide and disparate array of protected speech on Google’s various services,” the American Civil Liberties Union and its Mississippi chapter said in a joint brief. “Indeed, the subpoena seeks such a vast amount of information about so many people that by its very nature it cannot be narrowly tailored to any legitimate investigative need. As such, the subpoena is presumptively invalid.”
The European Union and Vietnam on Aug. 4. struck a tentative agreement to put in place a bilateral free trade pact, the EU said in a statement (here). The pact will cut tariffs on more than 99 percent of goods traded between the two countries, the statement said. Vietnamese phaseouts will take place over 10 years, while the EU will implement its tariff cuts over a seven-year period. The two sides launched trade negotiations in 2012, after the EU failed to move forward on a trade deal with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “The EU considers the [free trade agreements] with individual ASEAN countries as stepping stones towards an agreement in the regional framework, which remains the ultimate goal,” said the EU.
Three coalitions of industry and public interest groups filed amicus briefs with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans Monday supporting Google's bid to sustain a preliminary injunction barring Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood from enforcing his subpoena of the company’s search practices. Hood, a Democrat, filed an appeal with the 5th Circuit in late March. That was after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ordered the preliminary injunction because there was a “substantial likelihood” that Google would prevail in its lawsuit against Hood on claims he violated the company’s First Amendment rights (see 1504010029). If Hood is “allowed to continue, the pressure tactics employed by the Attorney General here would send a dangerous message to large and small service providers, as well as the Internet users who rely on their platforms to communicate, learn, and organize online,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy and Technology and other groups in a joint brief. “That message would stifle innovation, chill online speech, and flout the public’s First Amendment interest in an uncensored Internet.” The Computer & Communications Industry Association, CEA and Engine also urged the 5th Circuit to affirm the injunction. They said in a joint brief that “although state law enforcement officials are not wholly precluded from enforcing state laws that affect the Internet, Congress unambiguously intended to limit states’ ability to regulate Internet intermediaries’ display of third party content -- which is precisely what Attorney General Hood seeks to do here.” Hood “does not, and cannot, demonstrate any compelling interest in the wholesale gathering of information about a wide and disparate array of protected speech on Google’s various services,” the American Civil Liberties Union and its Mississippi chapter said in a joint brief. “Indeed, the subpoena seeks such a vast amount of information about so many people that by its very nature it cannot be narrowly tailored to any legitimate investigative need. As such, the subpoena is presumptively invalid.”
Three coalitions of industry and public interest groups filed amicus briefs with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans Monday supporting Google's bid to sustain a preliminary injunction barring Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood from enforcing his subpoena of the company’s search practices. Hood, a Democrat, filed an appeal with the 5th Circuit in late March. That was after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ordered the preliminary injunction because there was a “substantial likelihood” that Google would prevail in its lawsuit against Hood on claims he violated the company’s First Amendment rights (see 1504010029). If Hood is “allowed to continue, the pressure tactics employed by the Attorney General here would send a dangerous message to large and small service providers, as well as the Internet users who rely on their platforms to communicate, learn, and organize online,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy and Technology and other groups in a joint brief. “That message would stifle innovation, chill online speech, and flout the public’s First Amendment interest in an uncensored Internet.” The Computer & Communications Industry Association, CEA and Engine also urged the 5th Circuit to affirm the injunction. They said in a joint brief that “although state law enforcement officials are not wholly precluded from enforcing state laws that affect the Internet, Congress unambiguously intended to limit states’ ability to regulate Internet intermediaries’ display of third party content -- which is precisely what Attorney General Hood seeks to do here.” Hood “does not, and cannot, demonstrate any compelling interest in the wholesale gathering of information about a wide and disparate array of protected speech on Google’s various services,” the American Civil Liberties Union and its Mississippi chapter said in a joint brief. “Indeed, the subpoena seeks such a vast amount of information about so many people that by its very nature it cannot be narrowly tailored to any legitimate investigative need. As such, the subpoena is presumptively invalid.”
The Commerce Department issued the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Turkey (A-489-815) (here). Commerce determined the only company under review, ÇINAR Boru Profil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., did not undersell subject merchandise during the period of review, assigning the company a zero percent AD duty rate. Subject merchandise from CINAR entered between May 1, 2013 and April 30, 2014 will be liquidated without any assessment of AD duties, and future entries of subject merchandise exported by CINAR will not be subject to AD duty cash deposit requirements until further notice. These final results take effect Aug. 5.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the Aug. 3 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department is postponing until Oct. 6 the due date for its preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty investigations on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from Canada, China, India and Oman (A-122-855, A-570-024, A-533-861, A-523-810) (here). Domestic manufacturers that requested the investigation asked for the extension. Once Commerce makes its preliminary determination, it can suspend liquidation and require cash deposits of estimated AD duties. The preliminary determination was originally due Aug. 17.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Aug. 3 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department is beginning antidumping duty new shipper reviews on tapered roller bearings from China (A-570-601) (here), after receiving requests from two companies: Shandong Bolong Bearing Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Changxing CTL Auto Parts Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Each review will apply to merchandise both produced and exported by each respective company. Commerce will determine if Bolong or Changxing are independent from state control, and therefore eligible for an estimated AD cash deposit rate other than the 92.84% China-wide rate each currently receives.