The FCC’s notice of inquiry on offshore spectrum issues is expected to be approved 4-0 at the commissioners' meeting Wednesday with few changes to the draft circulated by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2205180065), industry and FCC officials said. Industry experts said it makes sense for the FCC to ask questions, but market interest in licenses for offshore areas is likely to be low.

Unintended consequences of the general data protection regulation (GDPR) are blocking access to Whois domain name registration, and Congress should consider acting to fix the problem, Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said Thursday. Whois data is a "public lands record for the internet," but an overly broad interpretation of the EU GDPR is preventing law enforcement, security experts and cybersecurity investigators from getting at bad actors, he said in a recorded statement for a Coalition for a Secure and Transparent Internet webinar. Consumers are also feeling vulnerable online and need to know their privacy and security will be protected, said House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. Panelists also urged legislative action.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska in a May 25 opinion found that shipments from two Alaskan shipping companies, Kloosterboer International Forwarding and Alaska Reefer Management, do not qualify for an exception of the Jones Act. Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that the shipments do not qualify for the Third Proviso of the Jones Act since they do not engage in transportation over a Canadian rail line.

Industrial diamonds from China further processed into superabbrasives in Romania should not be subject to additional Section 301 tariffs as products of China, Lieber & Solow, which does business as Lands Superabrasives, said in a complaint filed May 27 at the Court of International Trade. The companies argue that the industrial diamond crystals from China became objects of a different character, identity and use after processing in Romania and should be Romanian products for tariff purposes. Lands asked the court to find Romania as the correct country of origin and order CBP to reliquidate the merchandise with refunds of excess duties and interest (Lieber & Solow Ltd. d/b/a Lands Superabrasives, Co. v. United States, CIT # 21-00623).

The National Tribal Telecommunications Association and WTA backed NTCA's request to waive FCC rules regarding the affordable connectivity program's uniform 30-day non-usage tracking requirement for small providers offering fully subsidized plans to households on tribal lands. It's "expensive for small service providers on a per-customer basis, and discourages small provider participation," said WTA, in comments posted Friday in docket 21-450 (see 2205180062). The rule may also harm consumers who were "away from their homes for extended periods" due to "innocent and legitimate causes," the group said. NTTA said its members' ability to track usage this way "does not currently exist outside of a labor-intensive, manual process." It supported a "billing month basis" instead. NTTA also backed delaying the rule's implementation until Sept. 15.

Increasing Chinese investments in U.S. agriculture could reduce China’s need for American exports and give Beijing “undue leverage over U.S. supply chains,” the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a report last week. The U.S. may need to rethink or improve how it uses the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to better catch those investments, the commission said, which may be harming U.S. economic and national security.

The U.K. sanctioned three Russian airlines under its Russia sanctions regime in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Per a May 19 notice from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, JSC Rossiya Airlines, JSC Ural Airlines and PJSC Aeroflot will be subject to an asset freeze. OFSI also removed wrong information from the sanctions listings of Garantex Europe OU and Kamaz under the Russia sanctions list.

The Commerce Department sufficiently backed its position that electricity subsidies in China were regionally specific, the Court of International Trade said in a May 19 opinion in a countervailing duty review challenge. Addressing the four other previously remanded elements of the review, Judge Jane Restani ultimately upheld Commerce's remand.

Electronics recycler ERI said Tuesday it completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 1 audit and received a compliance certification showing the company is “recognized globally for its rigor in the review of organizations’ systems and controls." It affirms that ERI’s practices, policies, procedures and operations meet the SOC 2 standards for security and data protection, the company said. ERI is also embarking on SOC 2 Type II compliance, which would assert that its internal systems and controls are effective at meeting audit standards on a continuous basis while ensuring that the personal assets of the organization’s potential and existing customers are protected, said CEO John Shegerian.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his government will move to change parts of the Brexit agreement if the EU doesn't engage in dialogue on revising the Northern Ireland protocol. In a May 16 piece for the Belfast Telegraph, Johnson said there will be a "necessity to act" if the EU doesn't change its position. The column came ahead of the prime minister's May 16 visit to Northern Ireland and after comments from U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who said that parts of the agreement could be overridden (see 2205120014).