China’s Ministry of Commerce recently launched a website dedicated to information about its newly established export control regime, according to an unofficial translation. It features updates about the regulations, compliance training materials, a landing page to check whether a dual-use item is covered by the controls and various guidance documents, including a section on licensing. The website was released alongside China’s new export control white paper, which details how the country has sought to increase export enforcement, coordinate restrictions with allies and improve industry compliance (see 2112290036).
ATSC 3.0 landed support from a fourth TV brand when Hisense announced at CES 2022 Tuesday that it will build integrated 3.0 tuners into all the sets in its top three tiers of 2022 product. “With growing interest in free, live over-the-air broadcast, especially local news, sports and network content, the newly integrated NEXTGEN TV (ATSC 3.0) offers an excellent upgrade, bringing even more content options to viewers with 4K HDR, Dolby audio and the latest broadcast upgrades,” said the manufacturer. Its top-of-the-line offering with 3.0 support is a 75-inch Mini LED set called the U9H, due to launch late summer at $3,199. Three sets in the U8H series include 55-, 65- and 75-inch screen sizes starting at $1,099 when they arrive mid-summer, all with 3.0 tuners built in. A third tier of TVs in the U7H series will have 55-, 65-, 75- and 85-inch models starting at $799, also due mid-summer, and also with integrated 3.0 tuners. LG, Samsung and Sony jumped in with 3.0 support at CES 2020 (see 2001080044) and remained the only NextGenTV brands available until Hisense’s entry Tuesday. Speculation was brewing through most of 2021's second half that one of the Chinese TV makers would soon announce 3.0 backing. The news that "another major manufacturer" in Hisense will offer consumers the option of NextGenTV reception "is encouraging to broadcasters across the U.S. who already have or will soon upgrade to ATSC 3.0," said ATSC President Madeleine Noland in a statement.
DHS published its fall 2021 regulatory agenda for CBP with only one new trade-related action mentioned. The department said it intends to consolidate the regulatory authorities over immigration ports of entry, customs ports of entry and customs stations. The DHS secretary has authority over the customs ports of entry and stations, while the CBP commissioner oversee the immigration ports of entry, it said. "CBP is exploring ways to consolidate the authority to manage the two types of ports."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined Airbnb just over $91,000 for violating U.S. sanctions against Cuba, the agency said Jan. 3. OFAC said the company’s subsidiary, Airbnb Payments, illegally processed payments for guests traveling in Cuba and failed to keep certain records related to those payments.
The Commerce Department's actions in calculating the all-others rate in an antidumping investigation were "patently unreasonable," plywood importers argued in Dec. 29 comments on Commerce's remand results. Submitting their arguments to the Court of International Trade, the importers, led by Taraca Pacific, went after Commerce's method for finding the all-others rate when the agency itself recognized that the petition separate rate application rates the all-others rate was based on was only "to some extent" representative of the separate rate plaintiffs' dumping margin (Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. #18-00002).
The FCC extended to March 31 the deadline for Lifeline reverification, recertification, de-enrollment and income documentation requirements for subscribers in rural areas on tribal lands. It was to expire Friday. “The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt by many Americans, and recently a new variant of the coronavirus has emerged that has contributed to uncertainty about the ongoing pandemic,” said a Thursday Wireline Bureau order in docket 11-42: “The importance of access to affordable communications services for low-income consumers has been underscored by the pandemic and its long lasting impact.”
Sufficient evidence exists to back the Commerce Department's contentions on a countervailing duty review of wood mouldings and millwork products from China, both the Department of Justice and CVD petitioner Coalition of American Millwork Producers said in a pair of reply briefs. The defendant and defendant-intervenor pushed the court to accept Commerce's arguments that it properly countervailed respondent Yinfeng's purchases of acrylic polymer and alleged use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, along with its benchmarks for the provision of plywood and sawn wood for less than adequate remuneration and land-use rights for LTAR (Fujian Yinfeng Imp & Exp Trading Co. v. U.S., CIT #21-00088).
The Commerce Department didn't follow the Court of International Trade's instructions when it continued to find the all-others rate in an antidumping duty investigation by averaging a respondent's zero percent margin and the high China-wide rate, the consolidated plaintiffs, led by Zhejiang Dehua TB Import & Export, argued in a Dec. 29 brief. The plaintiffs blasted Commerce's justification for the move -- that it had a limited record for calculating the separate rate respondents' actual rates -- since "this deficiency is of Commerce's own making" (Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. #18-00002).
The 8K Association landed Amazon Prime Video, UL and 4by4, a producer of 8K demonstration and promotional videos, said the group Thursday. The association didn’t speculate on the ramifications of Amazon's new membership for 8K streaming content on Prime Video, and the customarily secretive Amazon didn’t respond to questions. 8KA, the brainchild of Samsung and Samsung’s broader display ecosystem, also revised the criteria for earning its certification logo to include “a broader set of video decoding standards that will promote the wider availability of 8K streaming content,” it said. The association unveiled its logo program a year ago (see 2101040054).
The 8K Association landed Amazon Prime Video, UL and 4by4, a producer of 8K demonstration and promotional videos, said the group Thursday. The association didn’t speculate on the ramifications of Amazon's new membership for 8K streaming content on Prime Video, and the customarily secretive Amazon didn’t respond to questions. 8KA, the brainchild of Samsung and Samsung’s broader display ecosystem, also revised the criteria for earning its certification logo to include “a broader set of video decoding standards that will promote the wider availability of 8K streaming content,” it said. The association unveiled its logo program a year ago (see 2101040054).