SAN FRANCISCO -- An attorney for AT&T Mobility said the FCC -- not the FTC -- is the telco's main regulator and AT&T would be "happy" to defend against allegations that it throttled its data service without telling customers. Michael Kellogg, representing the telco before 11 judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during oral argument Tuesday, said he wasn't arguing against the idea of concurrent enforcement. But in this instance, Congress drew a distinction that the FCC is the primary regulator and the case is "right in its wheelhouse," he continued.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 11-17:
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 15 denied another bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a gray market importer challenging Lever-Rule protections recently granted to Duracell Batteries (see 1701270015). This time calling the importer by its real name, Milecrest Corporation, after recently finding the company was not allowed to use the pseudonym XYZ Corporation (see 1709130007), CIT again ruled that Lever-Rule determinations to restrict imports of gray market goods may be considered customs rulings challengeable at the trade court. Duracell, which has intervened in the case on the side of the government and filed the motion to dismiss, did not raise any new issues “that would invalidate the court’s previous opinion regarding jurisdiction” issued in July in response to the government’s earlier motion (see 1707240031), CIT said.
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 15 again ruled that filing for bankruptcy does not stop the government from pursuing Section 1592 penalty cases against importers in court. Mirroring a ruling issued by a different CIT judge in August (see 1708110027), CIT Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves held that Section 1592 has the legitimate public policy purpose of deterring customs fraud and encouraging accurate completion of entry documents. That means it qualifies for the public policy exemption from the automatic stay of claims on debtors during bankruptcy protection, she said. The purpose of the lawsuit is also to fix penalties, rather than collect them, seeing that the court still has a final say in the penalty amount, the court said. In the case, filed in February, the government alleges Greenlight Organic fraudulently imported athletic wearing apparel. Greenlight Organic filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada in July.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 11-15 in case they were missed.
The World Trade Organization recently posted the following notices:
Members of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) during an informal meeting Sept. 15 urged the U.S. to delink the appointment of new Appellate Body members from its concerns over the issuance of rulings by Appellate Body members whose terms had expired, according to a Geneva trade official. The U.S. on Aug. 31 blocked proposals to launch a WTO selection process to fill the two current vacancies on the seven-member appellate panel, raising issue with the fact that Ricardo Ramirez-Hernandez, whose Appellate Body term expired June 30, was still working on ongoing appeals proceedings. The U.S. had said that the DSB should start discussing how to handle the current challenges facing issuances of rulings before launching the selection process for new Appellate Body members (see 1708310008).
The World Trade Organization is “not equipped” to mitigate the economic effects spawned by the large, mercantilist Chinese economy, which poses unprecedented challenges for international commerce, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said during an address Sept. 18 at the Center for International and Strategic Studies. “I believe that there is one challenge on the current scene that is substantially more difficult than those faced in the past, and that is China,” Lighthizer said. “The sheer scale of their coordinated efforts to develop their economy, to subsidize, to create national champions, to force technology transfer, and to distort markets in China and throughout the world is a threat to the world trading system that is unprecedented.”
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 4-10:
The House Homeland Security on Sept. 7 advanced legislation that would reauthorize the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. The full committee adopted an amendment introduced by Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., which fully replaces the text of H.R. 3551, introduced on July 28, but only makes minor changes. As amended, H.R. 3551 would add exporters as eligible participants for C-TPAT, as well as new requirements for CBP to consult with the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) in certain decisions regarding the C-TPAT program. The bill also would formally direct CBP to consider extending C-TPAT benefits to importers of noncontainerized cargo and “non-asset-based” third-party logistics providers.