Law enforcement agencies would be required to get a warrant to access electronic communications stored by third parties, such as email clients, under an amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. The amendment was authored by Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Currently, law enforcement agencies don’t need a warrant for communications stored for more than 180 days. The amendment passed the committee by voice vote, with Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who wasn’t present for the vote, casting the sole “no” vote by proxy. Committee members acknowledged the amendment is unlikely to pass both chambers in the remainder of the session. “At least this will give us a start as we go into the new session,” Leahy said.
Several trade associations are cautious about federal agencies abusing Chevron doctrine deference, an amici brief filed at the Supreme Court showed. The case addresses whether federal agencies should be allowed to determine their own jurisdiction. The American Farm Bureau Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, the National Mining Association and the Retail Litigation Center filed a joint brief supporting the petitioners this week. “Expanding the scope of ‘Chevron’s domain’ to agency jurisdictional determinations would have vast -- and troubling -- implications for the administrative state,” the joint brief said. “Historically, de novo judicial review of agency assertions of jurisdiction has served as an essential check against agency aggrandizement of power.” At stake is the “proper allocation of authority within the federal government and the relationship between the federal government and the States,” the trade associations said. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners filed a separate joint brief Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bn3rxc) with several municipal parties of the State and Local Legal Center in support of the City of Arlington, Texas v. FCC petitioners, as expected and reported last week (CD Nov 21 p1).
Federal Maritime Commission said the following have filed applications for a license as a Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carrier (NVO) and/or Ocean Freight Forwarder (OFF)-Ocean Transportation Intermediary (OTI) pursuant to section 19 of the Shipping Act of 1984. The FMC also gave notice of the filing of applications to amend an existing OTI license or the qualifying individual for a license. Interested persons may contact the Office of Transportation Intermediaries, Federal Maritime Commission, Washington, D.C. 20573, at 202-523-5843 or at OTI@fmc.gov.
The Court of International Trade denied Samsung’s challenge to CBP’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification of parts used in its plasma screen televisions, saying that CBP correctly found the parts at issue to be flat panel screen assemblies. CBP’s classification had resulted in denial of NAFTA duty free treatment for the televisions, because no tariff-shift rule of origin applies to the flat panel screen assemblies, which were manufactured in Korea. The issues before CBP were similar to those of the protests underlying the Hitachi protest time limit case, currently awaiting a decision on whether the Supreme Court will hear the case. CBP also went over its statutory two-year time limit for Samsung’s protests, but Samsung filed for accelerated disposition rather than challenge CBP on the time limit, and had its protest deemed denied.
CBP will withhold funds from the Special Account related to ongoing litigation involving questions of affected domestic producers and the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA, aka the Byrd Amendment), said CBP. The withholding of funds is due to several court cases reviewing CDSOA provisions. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently reversed the International Trade Commission’s denial of eligibility for benefits under the CDSOA for U.S. crawfish producer PS Chez Sidney.
The federal district court for the District of Colombia has no jurisdiction to hear a challenge of a lawyer’s participation in an International Trade Administration antidumping review, said law firm Foley and Lardner in response to a request by GEO specialty chemicals to prevent an attorney at the firm from representing a Chinese company in a new shipper review of Glycine from China (A-570-836). GEO filed its complaint in district court Nov. 8, requesting an injunction against the representation of a Chinese company by Gregory Husisian, a lawyer at the firm, because he formerly represented GEO in the proceeding while at a different firm. The company said Husisian’s actions violate D.C. law. But Foley and Lardner said the complaint should have instead been filed at the Court of International Trade, consistent with other cases challenging representation of attorneys before the ITA, and asked the court to dismiss with prejudice.
The Court of International Trade ordered CBP to refund tens of thousands of dollars in duties collected from importer International Custom Products (ICP) on an entry of “white sauce.” The excess payment had resulted from CBP notice of action that classified ICP’s product as a dairy spread dutiable at $1,996 per kilogram, despite an earlier CBP ruling letter said ICP only owed 6.6 percent ad valorem. CIT ruled that the notice of action was an “interpretive ruling or decision” that effectively revoked the earlier ruling letter, so CBP should have followed notice and comment procedures required by 19 USC 1625(c) when it issued the notice of action. The government argued that ICP's product isn't covered by the ruling letter, and that the ruling letter was in any case obtained fraudulently. CIT disagreed and said the ruling letter was valid and applied to ICP's white sauce.
Utah Refractories Corp. filed a petition requesting antidumping duties on silica refractory bricks and other shapes from China (A-570-988), alleging that the merchandise is being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. According to the petition, Chinese silica bricks are being dumped in the U.S. at rates of 190 percent to 467 percent.
Gerardo Chavez, the president of the San Diego Customs Broker Association, pleaded guilty to organizing a conspiracy to import foreign-made goods in to the U.S. without paying customs duties, said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. Another person charged in the case, Carlos Medina, also pleaded guilty, the Justice Department said. As a part of the plea deal, Chavez will cancel his customs broker license, forfeit property, and pay restitution of as much as $18 million.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the International Trade Commission’s finding of no Section 337 violations by SMC’s imports or sales of connecting devices for use with modular compressed air conditioning units (337-TA-587). Norgren, which filed the original patent complaint, contested the ITC’s finding that its patent was obvious and therefore invalid, noting that ITC had found the patent nonobvious prior to a 2009 CAFC reversal of a different issue associated with the case. CAFC said it vacated the ITC’s obviousness determination in the first remand, allowing the ITC to revisit its determination in light of the new claim construction that resulted from the remand. The ITC also considered new evidence when making its determination, CAFC said. Judge Moore issued a dissenting opinion.