The Federal Maritime Commission this week launched an investigation on whether the vessel flagging laws, regulations or practices of foreign countries or shipowners, including the use of flags of convenience, are creating “unfavorable shipping conditions in the foreign trade of the United States.” The FMC said May 21 that its “nonadjudicatory” investigation will look into whether those practices or laws are violating U.S. shipping regulations, specifically referring to foreign countries that lower their shipping standards or ease “compliance requirements to gain a potential competitive edge” on vessels from other nations.
Volumes of imported goods from China -- particularly those that would have been eligible for de minimis -- are likely to fall in the coming months, according to Gene Seroka, executive director for the Port of Los Angeles. But he said it's unclear how much they will fall, and when.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the May 21 Federal Register on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
The International Trade Commission seeks comments by May 30 on a Section 337 complaint alleging that imports of Wi-Fi devices infringe patents held by Estelgia, it said in a notice set for May 22 publication. According to the complaint, Estelgia is seeking a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against ASUS, D-Link, Linksys and Plume Design to bar from entry "certain wi-fi routers, wi-fi devices, mesh wi-fi network devices and components thereof" that violate its patents. Estelgia described the offending products as "a multi-band spectrum allocation system and method for increasing capacity of wireless data communication through concurrent communication through separate radio frequency bands."
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register May 21 on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CVD rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department has published the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on certain cut-to-length plate (CTL plate) from South Korea (A-580-836). In the final results of this review, Commerce will set AD assessment rates for subject merchandise for the companies under review entered Feb. 1, 2023, through Jan. 31, 2024.
The Commerce Department has published the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on certain aluminum foil from Turkey (A-489-844). These final results will be used to set final assessments of AD on importers for subject merchandise entered Nov. 1, 2022, through Oct. 31, 2023.
The Commerce Department is setting new countervailing duty cash deposit requirements for imports of sol gel alumina-based ceramic abrasive grains from China (C-570-191), after finding subsidization of Chinese producers in the preliminary determination of its CVD investigation. Suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements will take effect for entries on or after May 22, the date that the preliminary determination is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register.
On May 20, the FDA posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notices May 21: