Public PolicyRSS

  • September 8, 2009

    FDA Unveils Online Registry For Tainted Food

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has launched an Internet-based registry to track patterns in contaminated food, as part of legislation requiring food facilities to report potentially dangerous products.

  • September 8, 2009

    Importers Fired Up Over Duties On Chinese Furniture

    Lifestyle Enterprise Inc., Orient International Holding Shanghai Foreign Trade Co. Ltd. and other importers have sued the U.S. Department of Commerce, arguing that a recent administrative review of anti-dumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China came after the legal deadline.

  • September 4, 2009

    Feds Ease Restrictions On Family Visits To Cuba

    The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control has amended regulations on U.S.-Cuban relations, easing restrictions on family visits, family remittances and telecommunications.

  • September 4, 2009

    Steel Duty Distributions Violate NAFTA: ThyssenKrupp

    Mexican steel company ThyssenKrupp Mexinox SA de CV has asked a federal court to permanently halt the distribution to domestic producers of anti-dumping and countervailing duties levied against certain Mexican steel products, as well as rule that such activities violate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

  • September 4, 2009

    CBP Seizes $3.9M Shipment Of Fake Gucci Shoes

    Federal customs agents have confiscated more than 15,000 pairs of knockoff Gucci shoes worth as much as $3.9 million that were shipped from China to the U.S. under the guise of “home decorations.”

  • September 4, 2009

    Paice Asks ITC To Investigate Toyota Over Hybrid Cars

    The holder of a patent for hybrid car technology has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate Toyota Motor Corp. over an alleged patent infringement violation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act in an ongoing dispute between the two parties.

  • September 3, 2009

    Live365 Seeks To Halt CRB Rate-Setting Process

    An Internet radio network suing the Copyright Royalty Board is hoping to freeze a proceeding that would determine new online radio royalty rates while it pursues litigation over the allegedly unconstitutional appointment of the federal tribunal's three judges.

  • September 3, 2009

    USTR Looks To Combat Illegal Logging In Asia-Pacific

    As part of a concerted effort to combat the widespread practice of illegal logging in the South Pacific region, representatives from the U.S., Indonesia, Malaysia and a handful of other countries have commenced the first regional dialogue on ways to promote the legal trade of forest products.

  • September 3, 2009

    US Antitrust Authorities Approve Delphi Sale To GM

    U.S. antitrust authorities have signed off on a deal in which bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi Corp. would sell the bulk of its assets to General Motors Corp. and a consortium of lenders led by Elliott Management Corp. and Silver Point Capital LP.

  • September 3, 2009

    EU Puts Up Roadblock To $7.4B Oracle-Sun Merger

    The European Commission has put a hold on a proposed $7.4 billion merger between Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., saying Thursday that it would subject the tie-up to “an in-depth investigation” due to concerns about its effects on competition in the database market.

  • September 3, 2009

    IRS Issues Guidance On Reinsurer Risk Distribution

    The Internal Revenue Service has clarified the risk distribution rule for reinsurance companies, reportedly ruling that they should be given favorable tax treatment even if they only take on a single risk from a primary insurer, provided that they also assume risks from other insurers.

  • September 2, 2009

    In-House Report Says SEC Flubbed Madoff Probes

    Despite receiving detailed complaints pointing to Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme for more than a decade, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission never mounted a competent investigation of the disgraced financier or of his firm, the agency's Office of Inspector General said Wednesday.

  • September 2, 2009

    Pakistan Fines Cement Cos. $77M For Alleged Cartel

    Pakistan's competition authority has fined 20 cement makers more than 6.3 billion rupees ($76.6 million) for allegedly colluding to raise the price of cement across the country.

  • September 2, 2009

    CIT Nixes Duties On MKS Radio Generator Imports

    The U.S. Court of International Trade has handed MKS Instruments Inc. — a producer of instruments used in semiconductor manufacturing — a win in its challenge to the way the U.S. government classifies the company's imports of radio frequency generators, ruling that the imports should be duty free.

  • September 2, 2009

    PT Garuda Faces Australian Air Cargo Cartel Suit

    PT Garuda Indonesia Ltd. has become the latest airline to be hit with a lawsuit by Australia's competition regulator as part of a long-running probe into cartel activity in the international air cargo industry.

  • September 1, 2009

    US' State-Based Insurance System A-OK: NAIC

    As U.S. lawmakers grapple with the possibility of regulating insurance at the federal level, an association of state insurance commissioners has submitted a report to the International Monetary Fund saying that the current state-based system is consistent with international standards.

  • September 1, 2009

    CIT Blasts ITC Decision To Keep Ball Bearing Duties

    The U.S. Court of International Trade has again remanded a decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission that revoking anti-dumping duty orders on imported ball bearings would injure the domestic industry, saying the finding is unsupported by substantial evidence.

  • September 1, 2009

    Sierra Club Says EPA Must Regulate Coal Ash Sites

    The Sierra Club, the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice have strengthened their call for federal rules governing the disposal of coal ash now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revealed that there are almost twice as many coal ash dump sites across the nation as it originally estimated.

  • September 1, 2009

    EOS Wants US To Refund Duties On Laser Imports

    Laser machine retailer EOS of North America Inc. has sued the U.S. government, alleging that U.S. Customs and Border Protection misclassified duty rates on EOS' imported equipment and required the company to pay too much in import taxes.

  • September 1, 2009

    S. Africa Antitrust Body Seeks Fines For Steel Firms

    A group of steel companies that includes a unit of the world's top steelmaker, ArcelorMittal SA, may be on the hook for fines of 10 percent of the companies' annual revenue and exports after South Africa's competition watchdog requested the penalties be imposed over alleged price-fixing in the steel industry.