The International Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) have issued various notices, each initiating automatic five-year sunset reviews on the above antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders.
On May 3 and September 20, 2004, the International Trade Administration (ITA) published notices in the Federal Register requesting comments on its separate rates practice in antidumping (AD) proceedings involving a non-market economy (NME) country.
Effective November 17, 2004, the International Trade Administration (ITA) is revoking the antidumping (AD) duty orders on solid urea from Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as the domestic interested parties have waived their right to participate in these sunset reviews and the ITA finds that no domestic interested party is participating in these sunset reviews.
Many World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries fail to comply with their commitments under telecom trade agreements, according to comments filed with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Commenters urged the USTR to continue to work with regulators in other countries to enforce the existing trade agreements and negotiate new ones. The comments were filed in the USTR’s annual Sec. 1377 review of the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements on telecom products and services. The USTR is expected to conclude the review by March 31.
A former CalAmp controller has agreed to plead guilty to insider trading charges, 3 years after he confessed and walked away from the satellite dish maker. Barry Kusatzky faces up to 27 months in prison and $2 million in fines, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. Dist. Court, L.A. Kusatzky is expected to enter the plea formally Jan. 10. In the deal, Kusatzky admitted he hid losses and liabilities at CalAmp -- formerly known as California Amplifier -- to meet analysts’ forecasts in 1999 and 2000. Kusatzky allegedly used knowledge of the hidden losses to profit from selling 15,000 stock options at the end of 1999, netting $350,000, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Kusatzky, who joined CalAmp in 1997, was responsible for preparing financial projections. In late 1999, he realized he had underestimated expenses associated with CalAmp’s purchase of a Del. satellite manufacturing firm, according to a court filing. Fearing he would be fired, Kusatzky falsified internal company reports to hide $3 million in costs, the filing states. He continued to hide expenses and liabilities more than a year, faking records to show that CalAmp’s Hong Kong subsidiary with more money in the bank than it actually had. CalAmp overstated profit by about $7.8 million over 2 years as a result of the fraud, court documents state. The fraud wasn’t detected until March 23, 2001, as CalAmp’s auditors started their annual work. The pressure became too much for Kusatzky, who arrived early at the office and wrote a note that he left along with his company ID on his boss’s desk, Stanley Greenberg, his attorney, told the L.A. Times. “I did an incredibly stupid thing,” the note read. “I hid expenses and made the [profit and loss statement] look better.” Kusatzky’s motive was to save his job and “to fit in,” according to the note, which was included in the Justice Dept.’s legal filing. “I have always been shy and find it hard to fit in anywhere,” the note said. “I wanted to fit in - -- be one of the guys.” Securities regulators cleared the rest of the company’s officers of wrongdoing. Kusatzky lives in Ill. and works at a postal packaging service, according to court documents. He still faces civil charges of fraud and insider trading filed by the SEC. A settlement in the SEC case is pending, Greenberg told the newspaper. Meanwhile, CalAmp Solutions Div. Pres. Tracy Trent has resigned and will be replaced by Steven L'Heureux. Under a severance agreement, Trent will be paid $255,000 over a 12-month period in biweekly installments and get Cobra benefits, according to documents filed with the SEC. L'Heureux will receive a $235,000 annual salary and was granted stock options for 100,000 shares. He also will eligible for a bonus of up to 60% of his base salary for the fiscal year ending Feb. 28, 2006.
Catching and prosecuting international copyright pirates remains a tough problem in cyberspace, said federal law enforcement and industry sources. Despite well-publicized efforts by the entertainment industry to bust illegal file sharers in civil courts, these efforts are primarily U.S.-centric. In criminal cases, the task of convincing local law enforcement to actively pursue the bad guys takes time and finesse, experts said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a fourth version of its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and responses regarding the mandatory advance electronic cargo information requirements for truck carriers. This fourth version contains a further revision to FAQ 19. See future issue of ITT for full summary. 4th FAQ (dated 12/14/04) available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/communications_to_industry/advance_info/truck_faqs.ctt/truck_faqs.doc.)
Australia agreed to a new Fair Trade Agreement with the U.S. that changes the copyright definitions for that country, in part by limiting protection of ISPs for violations of copyright by their subscribers. Dave McClure of the U.S. Internet Industry Assn. -- which long has fought to keep ISPs from being made liable in file- sharing cases -- called the new laws “draconian” and expressed concern the U.S. may soon make corresponding changes in its intellectual property laws to “normalize” relations with Australia.
IBiquity, Kenwood and Texas Instruments are named in a complaint filed last week at the International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that TI’s “C6000” family of DSP devices sourced from its plants in Malaysia and Taiwan and built into Kenwood HD Radio receivers produced in Japan violate 5 patents on digital processing techniques held by a licensor in Boulder, Colo.
The Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has issued a notice announcing that it will hold a public meeting on December 15, 2004 to provide information on implementation of the new certification requirements for imported wine contained in section 2002 of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004 (Miscellaneous Trade Act, Public Law (P.L.) 108-429).