The International Trade Commission affirmed an administrative law judge’s finding of no violation of Section 337 in the patent investigation of certain polyimide films, products containing same, and related methods (337-TA-772). Kaneka had alleged violations by imports of SKC’s flexible films used in making flexible printed circuits for various consumer electronic products such as cell phones and laptop computers. The ITC terminated the investigation as a result of the ALJ’s findings.
The International Trade Administration published notices in the Oct. 11 Federal Register on the following AD/CV 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 International Trade Administration announced its affirmative final determination in the investigation of steel wire garment hangers from Taiwan. According to its fact sheet, the ITA found AD rates ranging from 69.98 to 125.43 percent. The International Trade Commission is set to make its final injury determination by Nov. 23. If the ITC finds injury, the ITA will issue an AD order. If the ITC makes a negative injury determination, the ITA will terminate this investigation and will not impose AD duties.
On Oct. 10 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
On Oct. 10 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Oct. 10 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
Imports and exports once again declined in August, and the drop in exports again outpaced the fall in exports, leading to further widening of the U.S. goods and services deficit by $1.7 billion to $44.2 billion, said the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis in their U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services Report for August 2012. The report showed that, as compared to revised July 2012 levels, exports were down $1.9 billion to $181.3 billion, and imports were down $0.2 billion to $225.5 billion. As compared to August 2011 totals, exports increased by 1.6 percent and imports by 1 percent. The U.S. trade deficit with China narrowed to $28.7 billion in August, down from $29.4 billion in July.
The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Oct. 10-16. The weekly report contains data on container availability for westbound transpacific traffic at 18 intermodal locations in the U.S.1 from the eight member carriers of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA).2 Although the report is compiled by AMS, it covers container availability for all merchandise, not just agricultural products.
The Census Bureau scheduled the eighth and final webinar in its series on “The Fundamentals of Exporting” for Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. The webinar, “What is a Foreign Trade Zone and How Can it Help You?” will cover Foreign Trade Zones and exporting instructions when merchandise is removed from a zone to a foreign country. Registration is available here.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Oct. 10, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)