Tim Warren

The Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) for CBP will next meet Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. in Washington, CBP said in a notice.

Unrestricted global data flows are critical to the health of e-commerce, said eBay Executive Director-Global Public Policy Lab Brian Bieron, testifying Sept. 17 before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. "Government restrictions on where companies can process data "would greatly limit the many benefits of the Internet," Bieron said, in prepared remarks. "Imposing data localization requirements on Internet-enabled businesses is problematic from both an economic and security perspective." Bieron said the problem is not remote. "Localization barriers are actually proliferating most among some of the larger and more developed countries," he said. "G20 countries are responsible for 65 percent of the protectionist measures, and at the same time, they are also the countries which are the worst affected by protectionism." Subcommittee Chairman Lee Terry, R-Neb., said in his opening statement "the European Commission, for example, has argued that localization of data could be a way to promote domestic industry and create jobs" (here). The hearing was to discuss the role of cross-border data flows in the ongoing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Trade in Services Agreement, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and U.S.-EU safe harbor agreement, said a background memo (here). "I am hopeful that Congress can send a unified message to current and future trading partners that trade barriers will not be tolerated, and that we will protect our economic interest in data flows," Terry said.

The other government agencies involved in the completion of the International Trade Data System have become increasingly engaged in that work following the February Executive Order on ITDS, said Carol Cave, director of Import Surveillance, Consumer Product Safety Commission. Cave and other agency officials discussed the progress on Sept. 15 during the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference. "There is a major shift going on with [the Border Interagency Executive Council]" as the government works to finish the system by 2016, as required in the Executive Order (see 14021928). For example, there's been a lot more coordination in looking at which agencies collect the same information that the CPSC also requires, said Cave.

The Commerce Department published notices in the Sept. 16-18 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Sept. 12-17, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.

The International Trade Commission voted on Sept. 17 to begin a Section 337 investigation into patent infringement by imports of laser abraded denim garment. Adrian RevoLaze and TechnoLines requested the investigation on Aug. 18. Apparel trade groups recently voiced concerns with possibility of general exclusion orders (see 14090319). RevoLaze and TechnoLines are asking the ITC to issue a general exclusion order, or a limited exclusion order, and cease and desist orders banning the importation and sale of infringing denim garments by the following respondents:

Miller & Chevalier added customs lawyer Richard Mojica, previously with Baker & McKenzie, as counsel in the firm's Washington office, Miller & Chevalier said in an email.

CBP released its Sept. 17 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 37). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent Court of International Trade decisions.

On Sept 15 and 16, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:

Trade data company Datamyne bought Manifest Journals, a U.S. customs data compiler, for an undisclosed price, Datamyne said in a press release.