The following new requests for antidumping and countervailing duty scope rulings were filed with the Commerce Department since International Trade Today's last update:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 8-14:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 8-12 in case they were missed.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 1-7:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 1-5 in case they were missed.
A sprinkling of U.S.-based companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Workday announced they've signed up for EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, which requires them to adhere to more-stringent privacy protections when transferring personal data of Europeans. And the Department of Commerce, which opened up the process Aug. 1 (see 1608010017), said companies have showed enthusiasm in using the new framework.
A sprinkling of U.S.-based companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Workday announced they've signed up for EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, which requires them to adhere to more-stringent privacy protections when transferring personal data of Europeans. And the Department of Commerce, which opened up the process Aug. 1 (see 1608010017), said companies have showed enthusiasm in using the new framework.
The offices of Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., plan to urge U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to hold the line in ensuring Canadian softwood lumber imports are capped at a bilaterally agreed-upon U.S. market share, according to a letter the lawmakers plan to send to Froman next month and obtained by International Trade Today. DeFazio and Zinke said ongoing Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) negotiations should secure fair competition for U.S. industry, even if negotiations run until October, when a one-year reprieve on trade cases involving Canadian softwood imports expires. “Current Canadian trade practices harm U.S. producers,” the lawmakers said in a notice seeking additional supporters. “Market downcycles accelerate and deepen for U.S. producers while Canadian producers are protected from normal market fluctuations. The resulting low lumber prices force U.S. mill closures -- in effect, Canada exports its mill closures to the United States. Until Canada changes its timber system to operate on open and competitive terms, border measures to offset the Canadian market distortions remain critical to U.S. manufacturers, landholders, and communities.” The government of Canada pays stumpage to domestic companies for exported lumber, which the U.S. executive branch considers to be subsidies.
Protests may be filed to claim Generalized System of Preferences benefits, the Court of International Trade said in an Aug. 4 decision (here) that appears to contradict current CBP policy. Though it dismissed an importer’s challenge on a technicality, the court found flaws with the basis of CBP’s 2014 directive that ports no longer accept protests used to claim GSP duty-free treatment post-liquidation (see 14081320). CIT “essentially ruled that the government was wrong in taking the position that GSP claims cannot be raised in a protest,” said John Peterson of Neville Peterson, who represented the importer, Zojirushi America.
ACE filers continue to face downtime and slowdown issues worse than those encountered in the legacy Automated Commercial System, and several functionalities essential to the trade community are still unavailable, including some that were available in the legacy system before it was mostly shut down July 23, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a position paper (here). “Much remains to be done” before the implementation of ACE can be declared a success, with performance of some aspects of the new electronic filing regime still lagging behind that of the ACS, it said.