The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.
In its final determination, the ITA states that it has determined to exclude five specific models of powerheads from the scope of the investigation. (The scope exclusionary language describes the specific characteristics of these five models, but does not give model numbers, manufacturers, etc.)
The ITA states that for Qingyuan and Huamei, it will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to allow, at the option of the importer, the posting of a bond or security in lieu of an AD cash deposit for entries of the subject merchandise both produced and exported by these companies until the completion of the new shipper reviews.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced a preliminary "low duty" tariff rate quota (TRQ) limit of 19,289,046 kg. for tuna and skipjack, in airtight containers, not in oil, in containers weighing with their contents not over 7 kg. each, for the January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2005 period.
The Tex. PUC hopes to persuade the 2005 legislature to give it more power to enforce its rules. The PUC, in a preliminary report to the legislature, said the current $5,000 cap on fines for rule violations such as slamming and cramming isn’t enough of a deterrent. It wants the cap raised to at least $25,000 per offense. The PUC also wants the flexibility to impose penalties even if the company corrected the immediate cause of complaints. Currently, the PUC can’t impose fines or other administrative penalties if a company corrects a problem within 30 days. The PUC may have a chance to win this change because the current state telecom act is to sunset this year and the legislature could use this as an opportunity to address the PUC’s authority and powers.
On December 30, 2004, the Court of International Trade (CIT) issued a preliminary injunction in U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA) v. Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) et al. which enjoins CITA, during the pendency of this action, from accepting, considering, or taking any further action on requests filed under CITA's textile safeguard procedures that are based on the threat of market disruption upon the elimination of quotas or safeguards on textile or apparel products from China.
In its 9th week available, Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PS2 was again the top-rented videogame in the U.S., Rentrak said its preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Dec. 26 showed. Rentrak said the title earned an additional $750,431, for a total of $9.06 million to date. Need for Speed Underground 2 for PS2 from Electronic Arts (EA) was again #2, in its 6th week ($388,681 in the week, $2.41 million to date), while Microsoft’s Xbox game Halo 2 was again #3, in its 7th week ($365,022 and $3.70 million), and the Xbox version of Underground 2 was again #4 ($249,581 and $1.51 million). EA had one other title in the top 10: Madden NFL 2005 for PS2 at #9 again, in its 20th week ($176,796 and $5.33 million). It was the only publisher with more than one title in the top 10. The only other Xbox title was LucasArts Entertainment’s Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords at #10 again, in its 3rd week ($161,801 and $404,959). Rounding out the top 10 were PS2 games: Activision’s Call of Duty: Finest Hour at #5 (up one, 6th week, $212,431 and $1.31 million), Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater at #6 (up one, 8th week, $189,336 and $1.10 million), Atari’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 at #7 (down 2, 5th week, $186,052 and $1.10 million) and Sony Computer Entertainment’s Killzone at #8 again, in its 8th week ($179,853 and $1.19 million).
In its 2nd week available, Fox Home Entertainment’s I, Robot was again the top-rented DVD in the U.S., Rentrak said its preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Dec. 26 showed. Rentrak said the title earned an additional $9.1 million in DVD rentals, for a total of $21.46 million to date. In its first week available, Paramount Home Entertainment’s The Manchurian Candidate remake was #2, earning $8.91 million. Other new releases that saw strong DVD rental action in the week were Touchstone Home Entertainment’s King Arthur at #6 ($5.38 million), Fox’s comedy Napoleon Dynamite at #7 ($4.46 million) and Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment’s horror sequel Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid at #8 ($4.04 million).
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of gray Portland cement and clinker from Mexico for the period of August 1, 2002 through July 31, 2003.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty new shipper review of petroleum wax candles from China for the review period of August 1, 2002 through July 31, 2003.