Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has issued a release regarding its hosting of more than 1,000 leading suppliers, Chinese officials, and NGOs in Beijing, China. The company outlined a series of aggressive goals and expectations to build a more environmentally and socially responsible global supply chain. (Wal-Mart press release, dated 10/22/08, available at http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/NewsRoom/8696.aspx.)
CBP has posted a memorandum announcing that the first opening of the recently increased global refined sugar tariff rate quota that is being reallocated from Mexico oversubscribed at opening. The pro rata percentage is 82.24822% or 0.8224822.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has announced that the interagency Section 301 Committee is soliciting public comments on the possible modification of the list of European products subject to increased tariffs in connection with World Trade Organization dispute settlement rulings in the U.S.-European Communities beef hormones dispute.
The International Trade Commission has issued a notice announcing that it has approved the initiation of a voluntary pilot mediation program for investigations under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
The International Trade Administration and the International Trade Commission have each issued notices initiating automatic five-year Sunset Reviews on the above-listed antidumping duty orders.
On October 29, 2008, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on "Investing in Infrastructure: The Road to Recovery." Testimony was heard from government, transportation, and public witnesses. (Congressional Record dated 10/30/08, available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r110:@FIELD(FLD003d)@FIELD(DDATE20081030).)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit threw up its hands and issued an implicit challenge to the Supreme Court, in a ruling limiting the grounds for getting patents on business methods, including those for software and Internet processes. Critics of such patents seemed elated by the In re Bilski ruling. Supporters of a broad understanding of patent subject-matter eligibility were either muted or satisfied with the court’s reasoning. Experts we asked disagreed over the threat to software and Internet patents, such as Amazon.com’s one-click checkout patent.
The International Trade Administration has initiated administrative reviews of the following antidumping and countervailing duty orders for certain specified companies listed in the initiation notice.
The Connecticut Utility Contractors Association told state regulators it’s dropping out of a complaint case against AT&T bidding practices filed by state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. The AG filed the complaint after the trade group wrote him expressing concern that a new electronic bidding process AT&T implemented in July, and an associated policy of not revealing winning bidders identities, was acting to freeze Connecticut contractors out of the bidding for AT&T network construction jobs (Case 08- 10-05). The contractor group said it was dropping out because it was satisfied with the material AT&T filed to prove its bid review and contract award processes are impartial and not biased in any way against Connecticut contractors. AT&T urged the Department of Public Utility Control to dismiss the AG’s complaint, saying the contractor group’s withdrawal removed any ground for pursuing the matter.
Russia and Arab nations and some others back a proposal that the ITU launch a “mark” program encouraging telecom gear interoperability and compatibility, but U.S. officials cited potential liability and budgetary issues. Developing nations have the most to gain from efforts at standardization. A compromise at the World Telecom Standardization Assembly may emerge Monday, U.S. Ambassador David Gross told us.