The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for June 24:
The U.S. Postal Service will no longer deliver First-Class mail to the Census Bureau, said Census in an Automated Export System broadcast. According to the message, first class mail includes all personal correspondence, bills, statements of accounts, and “all other matter sealed or otherwise closed against inspection with postage.” The only mail that will be accepted will be the following: standard post, bound printed material, media mail, and library mail. Anyone who has recently mailed something to the Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division via the USPS, including Voluntary Self Disclosures and data requests, should contact the Regulations Outreach and Education Branch at (800) 549-0595, option 3, to ensure delivery.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued four name or address change notifications June 21:
The Court of International Trade refused to rule in a tariff classification case on heat-sensitive glass bulbs, finding factual disputes prevented them from judging the legal merits of either party’s arguments. At issue was a CBP classification of Tyco Fire Products’ glass bulbs, which are filled with a chemical that causes them to explode when heated. CBP had classified them as articles of glass, but Tyco said the bulbs were parts of fire sprinkler systems and water heaters, and should be classified as such. CIT said it couldn’t rule on the question, because the parties hadn’t submitted enough evidence for the court to consider (1) whether the glass or the chemical gave the bulbs their essential character, and (2) whether the bulbs were mainly used in Tyco’s asserted applications.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website June 21, 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 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.)
Overdue regulations implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act must be published in final form by June 30, 2015, according to a June 21 order from the Northern California U.S. District Court. The order from Judge Phyllis Hamilton set deadlines for seven rulemakings, despite FDA’s insistence that hard deadlines would result in ill-conceived regulations. But the judge gave FDA some leeway. She set dates over a year after the deadlines proposed by the Center for Food Safety, given “FDA’s showing of the complexity of the task.”
The International Trade Commission is publishing notices in the June 21 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent, and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will appear in another ITT article):
The International Trade Commission voted June 20 to begin a Section 337 investigation to determine whether consumer electronics imported and sold by Panasonic, Toshiba, Vizio, AmTran and ZTE are infringing patents held by Graphics Properties Holdings. According to the May 17 complaint, the products at issue are consumer electronics devices with display and processing capabilities (337-TA-884), such as laptops, netbooks, PCs, television sets, HD camcorders, and Blu-ray and DVD players (see 13052109). The products all combine several pre-existing technologies into a single device. GPH is requesting the ITC issue an exclusion order and cease and desist orders against the following respondents:
The International Trade Commission will consider whether to ban imports of several models of HTC cellphones, after it voted June 20 to begin a Section 337 investigation on the products. Nokia requested the investigation May 23, alleging the HTC cellphones infringe its patents (see 13052923). According to Nokia, infringing models include the HTC One S, One V, One X, Evo 4G LTE, Droid Incredible 4G LTE, Droid DNA, One X+, One VX, First, and One. Nokia is requesting limited exclusion and cease and desist orders. The ITC said the following companies are respondents:
The Commerce Department issued the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on polyvinyl alcohol from Taiwan (A-583-841). The agency continued to find a zero AD rate for sole respondent Chang Chun Petrochemical Co., Ltd. As such, Commerce will direct CBP to liquidate entries of subject merchandise from CCPC during the period of review without regard to AD duties, and will not collect a cash deposit on future entries of subject merchandise exported by CCPC until further notice. The new rate is effective June 24, and will be implemented by CBP soon.