Globalstar and Iridium shouldn't face notable regulatory hurdles or opposition to their direct-to-handset services, we were told. Iridium said last week it had inked a smartphone service provider agreement. In an SEC filing, it said the deal could mean revenue in the form of development fees, royalties and network usage fees. Apple debuted its Globalstar-enabled SOS emergency messaging service on iPhone 14s in November (see 2211100005).

Autel Robotics USA asked the FCC for a waiver of the commission's 60 GHz power limit rules for a radar system that could help “avoid collisions” and “ensure the accurate landing and safe flight” of commercial drones. Autel drones are targeted for “high-rise fire protection, forest fire prevention, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, environmental monitoring, emergency communication, medical rescue and so on,” said a filing posted Friday. By using the proposed “omnidirectional radar system, the drone can work in all-time and all-weather conditions without colliding with structures, wires and other small obstacles,” Autel said.

The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

The U.S. may look to expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. after CFIUS determined it couldn’t intervene in China-based Fufeng Group's purchase of North Dakota farmland, law firms said this month. Congress could make a push to expand CFIUS next year, some firms suggested, especially after several lawmakers said the real estate transaction should have fallen under the committee's authority.

Crowell attorneys in Brussels note that the new EU regulation that prohibits both export and import of certain commodities if they come from land that was recently deforested (see 2212070039) will affect more than high-risk countries such as Indonesia, Brazil or Ivory Coast.

Just ahead of a change in control at the House Ways and Means Committee, the International Trade Commission issued a comprehensive report on how trade preference programs such as HOPE and HELP and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act have affected the Haitian economy. The ITC report, which ran 200 pages without appendixes, noted that Haiti's exports to the U.S. are more than 80% of all of Haiti's exports.

The Commerce Department illegally hit antidumping respondent Unicatch Industrial Co. with adverse facts available over the fact that the company did not submit a complete cost reconciliation, Unicatch and other appellants argued in a Dec. 19 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Unicatch, along with TC International, Hor Liang Industrial Corp. and Romp Coil Nails Industries, argued that all the data needed to complete the cost reconciliation was on the record, meaning the respondent "could have easily completed the reconciliation in a manner required if it had realized that Commerce was not satisfied with its response" (Pro-Team Coil Nail Enterprise v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2241).

Downrite Engineering employees damaged Crown Castle underground cable on three occasions while excavating on land in and around Miami, without Crown Castle’s knowledge or consent, alleged Crown Castle in a complaint Monday (docket 163330712) in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Crown Castle seeks damages nearing $63,000, plus pre- and post-judgment interest and further relief.

The Institute for Policy Studies, a nonprofit critic of globalization, war, and human rights abuses around the globe, hosted an event that questioned the ability of trade to help advance the green transition needed to prevent uncontrolled global warming.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized the U.S. decision not to intervene in the purchase of North Dakota farm land by China-based Fufeng Group, saying the acquisition threatens U.S. national security. “The Chinese Communist Party should not be allowed to purchase land near our military bases. It is dangerous and dumb,” Rubio said in a Dec. 14 statement. “Congress mandated that [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.] protect America’s national security and that should be its first priority, not making it easier for Chinese businesses, with ties to Beijing, to operate in the United States.”