Countervailing Duties

U.S.:           

The Commerce Department preliminarily found that China provides countervailable subsidies to exporters of crystaline, silicon, photovoltaic cells and solar panels at net subsidy rates ranging from 2.9 to 4.73 percent (Crystaline, Silicon, Photovoltaic Cells from China, I.T.A. (29 I.T.R. 434; 3/22/12).

Free Trade Agreements

U.S.:           

A lengthy list of instructions and interim regulations was published in a Federal Register to implement preferential tariff treatment and other custom related provisions of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement that went into effect March 15, 2012 as CBP began accepting claims for preferential duty treatment (77 Fed. Reg. 15,943) (29 I.T.R. 451; 3/22/12).

Imports

Argentina:   

The government will seek to limit car imports from Mexico (29 I.T.R. 495; 3/29/12).

Bilateral Agreement

U.S.:           

The Committee for the Implementation for Textile Agreements (CITA) published interim procedures for considering requests related to textiles, short supply and safeguard provisions under the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (77 Fed. Reg. 15, 997; 16,001) (29. I.T.R. 453;3/22/12).

Customs

U.S.:           

CBP proposed a number of changes to its in-bond regulations to enhance its ability to attract merchandise and transition from a paper dependent entry process to an automated electronic process (77 Fed. Reg. 10,622; 29 I.T.R. 318; 3/1/12).

Export

U.S.:           

The European Union (EU) and Japan jointly initiated dispute settlement proceedings in the WTO against the export restrictions of China that it has imposed on key components of rare earth metals and minerals used in a range of high tech industrial and consumer goods components such as those in wind power turbines, catalyzers, flat screen displays, hard drives, car parts, cameras, batteries, smart phones, electric and hybrid vehicles (29 I.T.R. 398; 3/15/12).

Export Controls

U.S.:           

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the existing validated end-user authorization adding five companies in China and one in India (77 Fed. Reg. 10,953; 29 I.T.R. 314; 3/1/12).

Imports

U.S.:           

A final rule revising the regulation governing Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) was published and did not single out for special treatment goods covered by anti-dumping and countervailing duties while streamlining application procedures (77 Fed. Reg. 12,112; 29 I.T.R. 319; 3/1/12).

Intellectual Property

U.S.:           

H.R. 4216 (Foreign Counterfeit Prevention Act) would allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to share samples of suspected counterfeit products with U.S. registered rights holders (29 I.T.R. 478; 3/29/12).

Procurement

U.S.:

S. 1813 is a proposed amendment to strengthen the Buy America Act to curtail foreign steel contracts supplying steel to U.S. contractors servicing government contracts (29 I.T.R. 440; 3/22/12).

Trade

U.S.:           

The former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kellogg, Brown & Root, Inc. was sentenced to thirty (30) months in prison for his role and the conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act where his company obtained construction contracts worth more than $6 billion from the Nigerian government (U.S. vs. Stanley, S.E. TEX., Criminal No. H-08-597:2/24/12 (29 I.T.R. 340; 3/1/12).

Dumping

U.S.:           

The Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled that the government must offer proof to establish either the amount of civil penalty to be imposed or the amount of anti-dumping duties that remain unpaid in order to sustain the entry of a default judgment (U.S. v. Country Flavor Corp., CIT Int’l Trade No. 11-00138) (Slip Op. 12-32), (3/15/12; 29 I.T.R. 497; 3/29/12).

Economic Espionage

U.S.:           

A former employee of DuPont Company pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit economic espionage in violation of the Economic Espionage Act (18 U.S.C. § 1831: U.S. v. Chao, N.D. Cal., No. CR1100537 – JSW, 3\3\12) (29 I.T.R. 463; 3/22/12).

Labeling

U.S.:           

U.S. filed an appeal with the WTO against the dispute panel that sided with Canada and Mexico in their complaint against new U.S. country of origin marking rules (COOL) for meat and some perishable commodities (29 I.T.R. 493; 3/29/12).

NAFTA

U.S.:

Apotex, Inc. filed a request for arbitration under NAFTA on its claim that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“import alert” on exports from Canada cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales (Apotex Holdings, Inc. and The Government of the United States of America, International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, ICSID Case No. ARB AF (\12\2\29\12)) (29 I.T.R. 455; 3/22/12).

Trade

U.S.:           

An Executive Order was signed by President Obama creating the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center (ITEC) to coordinate government resources for the enforcement of trade obligations on behalf of U.S. industry in the world economy (29 I.T.R. 311; 3/1/12).

Transportation

U.S.:           

WTO Appellant Body affirmed in a ruling that Boeing, Co. received illegal subsidies of at least $2.6 million dollars in U.S. Government research and defense contracts (29 I.T.R. 408; 3/12/12).

Export Controls

U.S.:           

The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) issued interpretive guidance and licensing information about the Iranian Transaction Regulations (31 CFR Part 560) allowing the export of services such as instant messaging, social networking, blogging and related services that are publically available at no cost to the user (29 I.T.R. 464; 3/22/12).                  

The Export Enforcement Coordination Center (E2C2) will enhance information sharing and coordination between law enforcement and intelligence officials on export control violations and the Information Triage Unit (ITU) will synthesize information from which agencies will base decisions on license applications (29 I.T.R. 403; 3/15/12).

* Excerpts from Economic and Financial Indicators published by The Economist, March 31, 2012

Sources:  BLR – Bloomberg Law Reports Antitrust & Trade; BNA – BNA, Inc., Highlights: International Trade Daily (ITD), International Trade Reporter (ITR), International Trade Reporter Decisions (ITRD), TMIJ-Tax Management International Journal; IL – International Lawyer, SMU School of Law; FT – Financial Times; TE – The Economist Magazine; GATM – German American Trade Magazine of the German American Chamber of Commerce; WSJ – Wall Street Journal; ILN/ABA-International Law News, American Bar Association; International Law News, ILN (American Bar Association; LB-Lehman Brown China Business Insights International Accountants; and Lehman, Lee & Xu; China Patents in the News, January 2012.

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