The International Trade Administration has made preliminary affirmative antidumping duty determinations that 1-hydroxyethylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acid (HDEP) from China and India is being, or is likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
The International Trade Administration has made a final affirmative antidumping duty determination that sodium metal from France is being, or is likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
A variety of pay-TV companies failed to get FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to seek a vote on their request that the agency prevent cable operators from withholding from rivals content not distributed by satellite. In Monday letters to Martin, the Broadband Service Providers Association and Coalition for Competitive Access to Content sought a vote on a ban. Oct. 9, Martin told coalition members that commissioners would meet Nov. 4, that group said. But Tuesday, when Martin unveiled items he wanted commissioners vote on by Election Day, the list included no cable-related items (CD Oct 15 p1). “We want to make one final request that the terrestrial loophole be included in the preliminary agenda for this meeting,” wrote John Goodman, coalition president. “The best opportunity to demonstrate that there are enough votes to close the loophole is to have the issue on the preliminary agenda.” The need to close the terrestrial loophole lacks the “recent visibility” of other subjects before the regulator, but “all past FCC actions in his area would indicate an expected bipartisan support” among members, said Goodman. AT&T, Cincinnati Bell, DirecTV and USTelecom belong to the coalition. The broadband association, whose members include RCN and SureWest, said “the most important foundation for video competition is assured access to must have programming.” Its letter to Martin, signed by executive director Goodman, said small, independent pay-TV companies “disproportionately” face hurdles getting terrestrially delivered programming. “We fully recognize that closing the loophole is not the only active competitive issue” among pay- TV companies, said Goodman. “We have provided our support for the Wholesale Untying and other policy issues.” Martin also is said to be keen on requiring wholesale programming unbundling.
The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty administrative review of circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand for the period of March 1, 2006 through February 28, 2007.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has posted to its Web site monthly reports containing official August 2008 trade data from the Census Department for U.S. imports and exports of textiles and apparel.
GENEVA -- Frequencies for space and earth meteorology must be protected for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems and meteorological data gathering and transmission, said a report. The report on preliminary World Meteorological Organization positions for the 2011 World Radiocommunication Conference said radio frequencies are scarce, crucial resources that national weather bodies use to collect and measure data and to disseminate information. The report was circulated in ITU-R.
Ireland’s challenge to a law requiring storage of telephone and Internet traffic data should be thrown out, European Court of Justice Advocate General Yves Bot said Tuesday. The Irish government contested the 2006 data retention directive, saying it was incorrectly based on treaty provisions dealing with the internal market instead of on those covering police and judicial cooperation in criminal cases, the ECJ said. Bot’s non-binding opinion said retention of traffic data places a significant financial burden on e-communications services providers proportionate to the amount of data they must store and the period for which it must be held. If national rules aren’t harmonized, providers will face different costs across Europe, which could create a barrier to the free movement of electronic communications services and hamper the internal market in those services, Bot said. The mere fact that the directive’s main purpose is to investigate and prosecute serious crime isn’t enough for it to fall within the area covered by police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, he said. The duty to hold traffic data does not involve any direct law enforcement participation, nor does it standardize national rules regarding either access to the information or its exchange between police agencies, placing it outside the scope of measures dealing with law enforcement cooperation, Bot said. Therefore, it could not have been enacted under the provisions claimed by Ireland, he said. The nation’s action was limited to formal issues and didn’t address the fact that “registering the telecommunications behaviour and movements of the entire EU population in the absence of any reasonable suspicion is clearly disproportionate and violates human rights,” said the German Working Group on Data Retention, an association of civil rights and privacy activists and Internet users. If the ECJ follows Bot’s opinion, it will have to consider the directive’s compatibility with human rights in a second case likely to be filed by the German Federal Constitutional Court, the working group said. A suit by more than 34,000 citizens challenging Germany’s data retention law is pending in that court, which is expected to rule shortly on a request for a preliminary injunction, it said. The application is directed primarily against storing of Internet access, anonymizing services and e-mail data, which takes effect Jan. 1, it said. The constitutional court will likely issue a judgment after the ECJ decides on the human rights issues, the working group said. The advocate general’s opinion is a “setback for the plaintiffs,” said German telecommunications lawyer Axel Spies. Although the judges will make the final decision, an advocate general’s opinion “can have a significant bearing on final rulings,” he said.
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.
Ireland’s challenge to a law requiring storage of telephone and Internet traffic data should be thrown out, European Court of Justice Advocate General Yves Bot said Tuesday. The Irish government contested the 2006 data retention directive, saying it was incorrectly based on treaty provisions dealing with the internal market instead of on those covering police and judicial cooperation in criminal cases, the ECJ said. Bot’s non-binding opinion said retention of traffic data places a significant financial burden on e-communications services providers proportionate to the amount of data they must store and the period for which it must be held. If national rules aren’t harmonized, providers will face different costs across Europe, which could create a barrier to the free movement of electronic communications services and hamper the internal market in those services, Bot said. The mere fact that the directive’s main purpose is to investigate and prosecute serious crime isn’t enough for it to fall within the area covered by police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, he said. The duty to hold traffic data does not involve any direct law enforcement participation, nor does it standardize national rules regarding either access to the information or its exchange between police agencies, placing it outside the scope of measures dealing with law enforcement cooperation, Bot said. Therefore, it could not have been enacted under the provisions claimed by Ireland, he said. The nation’s action was limited to formal issues and didn’t address the fact that “registering the telecommunications behaviour and movements of the entire EU population in the absence of any reasonable suspicion is clearly disproportionate and violates human rights,” said the German Working Group on Data Retention, an association of civil rights and privacy activists and Internet users. If the ECJ follows Bot’s opinion, it will have to consider the directive’s compatibility with human rights in a second case likely to be filed by the German Federal Constitutional Court, the working group said. A suit by more than 34,000 citizens challenging Germany’s data retention law is pending in that court, which is expected to rule shortly on a request for a preliminary injunction, it said. The application is directed primarily against storing of Internet access, anonymizing services and e-mail data, which takes effect Jan. 1, it said. The constitutional court will likely issue a judgment after the ECJ decides on the human rights issues, the working group said. The advocate general’s opinion is a “setback for the plaintiffs,” said German telecommunications lawyer Axel Spies. Although the judges will make the final decision, an advocate general’s opinion “can have a significant bearing on final rulings,” he said.
The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty administrative review of certain tissue paper products from China for the period of March 1, 2006 through February 28, 2007.