The Department of Energy has issued a supplemental notice containing additional language and definitions to its December 2008 proposed rule to amend test procedures for residential clothes dryers and room air conditioners to provide for measurement of standby mode and off mode power use. DOE will hold a public meeting on July 14, 2010, and comments are due by August 30.
The Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation approved up to $75 million in financing to support the establishment of a private equity investment fund designed to invest in companies that could utilize technological innovation to achieve high growth, in response to an announcement by President Obama last year. The fund will invest globally, but with a specific emphasis on OPIC-eligible countries in the Middle East, Africa, and South, Central and Southeast Asia. The fund has a target capitalization of $300 million.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation concluded an agreement on June 22, 2010 enabling the Ukrainian Development Network (UDN), a business consulting organization based in Kyiv, to serve as an originator for a growing alliance with the private sector designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expanding into emerging markets overseas.
The Justice Department reports that John Webster Warwick, 64, a Virginia Beach, Va. resident, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., to 37 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to former Panamanian government officials to secure maritime contracts.The U.S. District Court Judge also sentenced Warwick to two years of supervised release following his prison term. In addition, Warwick forfeited $331,000 in proceeds of the crime.
U.S. Trade Representative Kirk welcomed President Obama’s direction to complete the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). The President has asked Ambassador Kirk to initiate new discussions with his Korean counterpart, Minister of Trade Kim Jong-hoon, to resolve outstanding issues, with the objective of completing the process by the President 's visit to South Korea for the next G-20 meeting in November.
The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on nanotechnology which concludes that nanomaterials are already widely used in commerce, but the Environmental Protection Agency faces challenges in regulating their risks.
The Justice Department has announced that Technip S.A., a global engineering, construction and services company based in Paris, has agreed to pay a $240 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts. The EPC contracts to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria, were valued at more than $6 billion.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.
On June 12, 2010, the President issued Proclamation 8536 which amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to extend and establish certain sugar tariff rate quotas for Costa Rica under the DR-CAFTA1 and make technical corrections to certain other free trade agreement General Notes.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the names of the four individuals in Colombia whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to Executive Order 12978, "Blocking Assets and Prohibiting Transactions With Significant Narcotics Traffickers," effective June 22, 2010.