On Aug. 18 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The Agricultural Marketing Service is asking for comments by Sept. 19 on a possible new standard of identity for honey. A group of domestic honey industry coalitions had requested the Food and Drug Administration set a honey standard in 2006 to address adulteration, but was denied in 2011. AMS sets its own standards for identity, and was directed to report on the possibility of a honey standard by the 2014 Farm Bill. Also, states have recently begun issuing their own honey standards, said AMS. “Inevitable” variation between these state standards could “lead to an assortment of standards that vary from state to state and impede interstate commerce,” it said. Comments should address the standard proposed by honey industry associations in 2006 (here), as well as how a “standard for the identity of honey would be in the interest of consumers, the honey industry, and United States agriculture,” as directed by Congress.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for Aug. 19:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 11-17:
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Aug. 18, 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://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.
The International Trade Commission voted on Aug. 15 to begin a Section 337 investigation on imports of Garmin marine sonar imaging devices that allegedly infringe Johnson Outdoors’ patents. In its July 18 complaint, Johnson said Garmin’s SideVu/DineVu sonar imaging transducer infringes patents related to Johnson’s Humminbird fishfinder devices (see 14072504). The patented technology provides recreational fisherman with a high-resolution image of what lies beneath the water underneath and to the sides of the boat. Johnson is requesting limited exclusion orders and cease and desist orders banning importation and sale of infringing devices by the following Garmin companies:
The International Trade Commission on Aug. 15 launched a Section 337 investigation that could result in import bans for several popular smartphones. Enterprise Systems Technologies alleged in its July 16 complaint that communications and computing devices from Apple, Cirrus, HTC, LG and Samsung infringe its patents (see 14072114). The Samsung Galaxy S5, Apple iPhone 5S and MacBook Air, HTC One M8, and LG Nexus 5 are all identified in the complaint. Enterprise Systems is requesting limited exclusion orders and cease and desist orders banning importation and sale of infringing devices by the following respondents:
The Commerce Department published notices in the Aug. 18 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
Exhibition booth kits imported by Districargo are subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), said the Commerce Department in a scope ruling issued Aug. 14. Districargo had argued the kits qualify for the “finished goods kits” exemption from duties because they are ready for assembly into final form without further processing. But Commerce found that the non-aluminum extrusion parts included in the kits are fasteners, making them ineligible for the exemption. Also, at the time of importation each type of part included in the kit is packaged together, and must be rearranged after importation so in order to comprise kits that are ready for use. As the kits aren’t ready for assembly as imported and do not contain non-aluminum extrusion parts, they are not eligible for the finished goods kit exemption and are subject to the AD/CVD order, said Commerce.
The Commerce Department is ending its antidumping duty investigation and refunding cash deposits collected from importers of oil country tubular goods from Saudi Arabia (A-517-804), after finding zero AD duty rates for all exporters of subject merchandise in an amended final determination. Jubail Energy Services and all other Saudi Arabian companies had been assigned a 2.69% AD duty rate in the final determination issued on July 18 (see 14071715), but a correction to a calculation error caused both rates to drop to zero. Commerce will now direct CBP to end suspension of liquidation for oil country tubular goods from Saudi Arabia, and refund all cash deposits collected in connection with its investigation.