Even as both houses of Congress paved the way Wednesday for short-term government funding, federal agencies' contingency planning in case of another shutdown continued. The release of all agencies' shutdown contingency plans highlights the possible effects of a shutdown if a similar resolution fails to pass in December, observers told us. Industry and agency officials previously told us the FCC has restructured its budget, so there will be funding to allow portions of its website to remain online during a shutdown (see 1509250054). One change from the 2013 shutdown is that many agencies' websites will remain online, we found.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 21-27:
The FCC shot clock is two weeks in for Charter Communications' buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. The $89.1 billion deal already attracted considerable support from the likes of the AIDS Service Foundation of Kansas City and watershed preservation group Milwaukee Riverkeeper, alongside TV outfits such as Herring Networks and PBS Hawaii.
The FCC shot clock is two weeks in for Charter Communications' buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. The $89.1 billion deal already attracted considerable support from the likes of the AIDS Service Foundation of Kansas City and watershed preservation group Milwaukee Riverkeeper, alongside TV outfits such as Herring Networks and PBS Hawaii.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing an overhaul of its regulations on international shipments of hazardous waste, it announced on Sept 24 (here). The proposed changes would apply the same set of regulations to all import and export shipments, whether from members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada or Mexico, or non-OECD members. Other changes to general import-export regulations would allow electronic submission of all required documents, and provide for electronic validation in the Automated Export System. EPA will accept comments on the proposed rule, which has yet to be published in the Federal Register, for 60 days following its publication.
A customs broker’s agency relationship is created only by a signed power of attorney and cannot be implied under state law from a broker-importer or broker-broker business relationship, said Middle North Carolina U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder on Sept. 16 as he dismissed a lawsuit brought against two customs brokerages by an importer that was erroneously listed as importer of record and forced to pay thousands of dollars in antidumping duties, according to a lawyer present at the ruling.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 14-20:
Advocates of special access regulation praised FCC plans to release industry data and commission a study of the business market for telecom services, the competitiveness of which is highly disputed. Some suggested the data analysis would support their calls for regulators to constrain the rates and practices of Bell/ILEC special access offerings to wholesale and retail business customers over dedicated circuits. Sprint said it was encouraged the FCC is moving forward with its “long-awaited, data-driven analysis” of the business market. “We are confident the data will incent the Commission to update 1990’s policies, which have undercut competition, innovation and productivity,” said a spokesman in an emailed statement.
Advocates of special access regulation praised FCC plans to release industry data and commission a study of the business market for telecom services, the competitiveness of which is highly disputed. Some suggested the data analysis would support their calls for regulators to constrain the rates and practices of Bell/ILEC special access offerings to wholesale and retail business customers over dedicated circuits. Sprint said it was encouraged the FCC is moving forward with its “long-awaited, data-driven analysis” of the business market. “We are confident the data will incent the Commission to update 1990’s policies, which have undercut competition, innovation and productivity,” said a spokesman in an emailed statement.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 7-13: