The International Trade Commission has posted an updated preliminary version of the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule to its website, which is effective on January 1, 2012. ITC states that this preliminary version will not be sent to the Government Printing Office for printing and distribution. The prior preliminary version had contained at least one error.
The International Trade Commission states it has posted a preliminary version of the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule to its website, which will not be sent to the Government Printing Office for distribution. While this preliminary version is not intended to contain the numerous WCO-recommended tariff changes, it should contain the 484(f) Committee changes approved to take effect on January 1, 2012, as well as other non-WCO related changes (the WCO-recommended changes are waiting on a Presidential Proclamation which is expected to be signed in late 2011).
The International Trade Administration is publishing notices in the December 22, 2011 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration has issued the preliminary results of an antidumping duty administrative review of stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings (SSBW pipe fittings) from Italy (A-475-828) for one manufacturer/exporter. This preliminary result is not yet in effect, may change in the final results, and could affect the estimated AD cash deposit rate for this company.
New York retailing fixture J&R joined PRO Buying Group, filling a void left with the liquidation of Sixth Avenue Electronics. J&R joined the group effective Dec. 1 after preliminary discussions that began in the summer, but actually stretched informally back several years, PRO Executive Director David Workman said. J&R is believed to generate more in annual revenue than Sixth Avenue did, though both chains are privately held. “The conversations with the J&R buying organization began a few years ago, but with both Sixth Avenue and Electronics Expo in the New York market, there wasn’t any appetite for us to add another retailer at that time,” said Workman, referring to New York-area group members. For J&R, the move into PRO is the first time it has joined a buying group.
A Senate investigation of the Lifeline program is being explored by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. Her Contracting Oversight Subcommittee “is taking preliminary steps to investigate” the Universal Service Fund low-income program but hasn’t opened a formal investigation yet, a McCaskill spokesman told us Tuesday. McCaskill is also “seeking a Government Accountability Office review and pursuing expanded reviews by the FCC Inspector General,” the senator wrote in a Dec. 9 letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. McCaskill acknowledged that the FCC plans to soon issue a rule to tighten oversight of the program. But the pending order may not “fully address the scope of fraud, waste and abuse that may be occurring in Lifeline,” she wrote. McCaskill asked the FCC to provide information about the growth in the number of carriers participating in Lifeline since it was expanded to wireless, the amount of duplications and number of ineligible customers discovered by the FCC in the last three years, the number and extent of audits conducted by the FCC and internal processes the FCC has implemented to administer Lifeline and prevent problems.
Cyberlocker service Megaupload can’t get a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Universal Music Group because YouTube has already re-posted the Megaupload promotional video that UMG had taken down (WID Dec 15 p6), U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland ruled Friday. That followed UMG’s claim that it didn’t violate the “good faith” takedown requirement in Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- the basis of Megaupload’s lawsuit -- because it removed the Megaupload video pursuant to a private agreement with YouTube, not the DMCA’s takedown process. In a Wednesday letter to YouTube Legal Director Lance Kavanaugh, entered into the court docket, Munger Tolles lawyer Kelly Klaus, representing UMG, said UMG’s right to remove user-posted YouTube videos wasn’t limited to those videos in which UMG claims an infringed copyright. “As you know, UMG’s rights in this regard are not limited to copyright infringement,” Klaus said, referring to a March 31, 2009, “Video License Agreement” between YouTube and UMG. Klaus said copies of the Megaupload video have been “freely available” on YouTube since Dec. 9, when UMG first started removing them, so it’s not clear why YouTube kept asking UMG for evidence backing up its copyright claim in the video. Wilken’s Friday order said Megaupload has conceded its TRO motion is “moot,” but gave the company permission to “file a properly noticed motion for a preliminary injunction,” and said it could move for “limited expedited discovery” as it had requested.
The International Trade Administration is publishing notices in the December 20, 2011 Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration has issued the preliminary results of an antidumping duty administrative review of 1-hydroxyethylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) from India (A--533--847) for one manufacturer/exporter. These preliminary results are not in effect, may change in the final results, and could affect the estimated AD cash deposit rate for the company.
The International Trade Administration has issued an affirmative preliminary determination that carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod with an actual diameter between 4.75 mm and 5.00 mm produced in Mexico and exported to the U.S. by Deacero S.A. de C.V. is circumventing the antidumping duty order on carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Mexico (A-201-830) by means of a minor alteration, and will be subject to duties.