Deactivation of CBP Los Angeles Port Codes 2771, 2772, 2773, 2774, 2784, 2785, 2792 for Cargo - U.S. Customs & Border Protection
The ACE Business Office, in conjunction with the Office of Field Operations, has identified port codes associated to facilities that are no longer active and will be deactivating the port codes, one Field Office at a time. The Los Angeles Field Office has identified seven port codes to be deactivated. During the week of July 25, 2016, Port Codes 2771, 2772, 2773, 2774 and 2792 will be deactivated. All five of these Port Codes have been identified as “deactivated do not use” for an extended period of time. In addition, Port Codes 2784 (Santa Maria Airport) and 2785 (March Inland Airport) will be deactivated. The trade will no longer be able to use these port codes on bills of lading or in-bond movements.
If you have any operational issues with the deactivation of Port Codes 2771, 2772, 2773, 2774, 2784, 2785, or 2792 please contact Amy Hatfield at the ACE Business Office via email at: Amy.Hatfield@dhs.gov
G.M.O. Labeling Bill Gains House Approval - NYTimes
The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to require the labeling of foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients, clearing the bill’s final obstacle before it heads to the White House, where President Obama is expected to sign it into law.
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USITC: Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Brazil, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand - United States International Trade Commission
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today determined that revoking the existing antidumping duty orders on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from Brazil, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.
As a result of the Commission’s affirmative determinations, the existing antidumping duty orders on imports of these products from Brazil, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand will remain in place.
Chairman Irving A. Williamson and Commissioners Dean A. Pinkert, David S. Johanson, F. Scott Kieff, and Rhonda K. Schmidtlein voted in the affirmative with respect to all countries. Commissioner Meredith M. Broadbent voted in the affirmative with respect to China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, and in the negative with respect to Brazil.
Today’s action comes under the five-year (sunset) review process required by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. See the attached page for background on these five-year (sunset) reviews.
The Commission’s public report Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Brazil, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand (Inv. Nos. 731-TA-308-310 and 520-521 (Fourth Review), USITC Publication 4628, August 2016) will contain the views of the Commission and information developed during the reviews.
The report will be available by August 24, 2016; when available, it may be accessed on the USITC website at: http://pubapps.usitc.gov/applications/publogs/qry_publication_loglist.asp.
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BACKGROUND
The Uruguay Round Agreements Act requires the Department of Commerce to revoke an antidumping or countervailing duty order, or terminate a suspension agreement, after five years unless the Department of Commerce and the USITC determine that revoking the order or terminating the suspension agreement would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping or subsidies (Commerce) and of material injury (USITC) within a reasonably foreseeable time.
The Commission’s institution notice in five-year reviews requests that interested parties file responses with the Commission concerning the likely effects of revoking the order under review as well as other information. Generally within 95 days from institution, the Commission will determine whether the responses it has received reflect an adequate or inadequate level of interest in a full review. If responses to the USITC’s notice of institution are adequate, or if other circumstances warrant a full review, the Commission conducts a full review, which includes a public hearing and issuance of questionnaires.
The Commission generally does not hold a hearing or conduct further investigative activities in expedited reviews. Commissioners base their injury determination in expedited reviews on the facts available, including the Commission’s prior injury and review determinations, responses received to its notice of institution, data collected by staff in connection with the review, and information provided by the Department of Commerce.
The five-year (sunset) reviews concerning Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Brazil, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand were instituted on March 1, 2016.
On June 6, 2016, the Commission voted to conduct expedited reviews. Then-Vice Chairman Dean A. Pinkert and Commissioners Irving A. Williamson, F. Scott Kieff, and Rhonda K. Schmidtlein concluded that the domestic group response for these reviews was adequate and the respondent group responses were inadequate and voted for expedited reviews. Then-Chairman Meredith M. Broadbent and Commissioner David S. Johanson concluded that the domestic group response for these reviews was adequate and the respondent group responses were inadequate, but that circumstances warranted full reviews.
A record of the Commission’s vote to conduct expedited reviews is available from the Office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436. Requests may be made by telephone by calling 202-205-1802.
Global HVAC Provider Settles FCPA Charges - Securities & Exchange Commission
July 11, 2016 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a Wisconsin-based global provider of HVAC systems has agreed to pay more than $14,000,000 to settle charges that it violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
An SEC investigation found that a wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary of Johnson Controls used sham vendors to make improper payments of approximately $4.9 million to employees of Chinese government owned shipyards, and ship-owners and others, to obtain and retain business and personally enrich themselves. According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled cease-and-desist proceeding against Johnson Controls:
- Johnson Controls acquired the Chinese subsidiary as part of a 2005 acquisition of York International, which was subject to a prior FCPA enforcement action in October 2007, for conduct in China and other parts of York’s business.
- Despite JCI’s efforts to remediate China Marine, the bribery continued.
- From 2007 to 2013, the managing director of China Marine, with the aid of approximately eighteen China Marine employees in three offices, continued the bribery and theft that began under his predecessor by using vendors instead of agents to facilitate the improper payments.
- Johnson Controls limited the use of agents, and thus the employees used the vendor scheme to create slush funds. The employees fashioned the improper scheme using vendors because vendor transactions were considered low risk by JCI due to the low dollar value of the transactions, with the average vendor payment approximately $3400.
- Johnson Controls’ internal controls over vendor payments were less rigorous, and China Marine operated with very little oversight by JCI’s Denmark office, which oversaw the Global Marine business. Even in the instances where managers in Denmark did a review, they did not understand some of the highly customized transactions at China Marine or the projects involving the sham vendors.
- Johnson Controls self-reported this misconduct to the SEC and cooperated with the investigation.
The SEC’s order finds that Johnson Controls violated the internal accounting controls and books and records provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Without admitting or denying the findings, Johnson Controls agreed to cease-and-desist from committing or causing any violations of Exchange Act Sections 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B), pay disgorgement of $11,800,000 plus prejudgment interest of $1,382,561, pay a civil penalty of $1,180,000, and to report to the SEC for one year on the status of its FCPA and anti-corruption related remediation and implementation of compliance measures.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Irene Gutierrez and Tracy L. Price of the FCPA Unit and supervised by Kara N. Brockmeyer. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
CBP Lassoes Nearly $16k in Counterfeit Polo Shirts
U.S. Customs & Border Protection
STERLING, Va. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized nearly $16,000 in counterfeit Polo Ralph Lauren shirts on July 14 that arrived earlier in air cargo at Washington Dulles International Airport.
The shipment arrived as air cargo from Pakistan on June 29 and was destined to a location in Northern Virginia. CBP detained the collared Polo shirts and learned that the consignee did not have authority to import the shirts. The trademark holder then notified CBP that the 159 Polo shirts were counterfeit. CBP seized the shirts on July 14.
If authentic, the Polo shirts would have had a total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of about $15,582.
“Customs and Border Protection will continue to work closely with trademark holders and our consumer safety partners to seize counterfeit and substandard merchandise that pose potential threats to American consumers and hurt American businesses,” said Wayne Biondi, CBP Port Director for the Area Port of Washington Dulles. “Intellectual property rights enforcement is a CBP priority trade issue, and a mission that we take very seriously.”
To protect both private industry and consumers, CBP has made Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement a CBP Priority Trade Issue. On a typical day during 2015, CBP seized $3.7 million worth of products that violate IPR laws at our nation’s 328 ports of entry. View CBP Snapshot to learn what else CBP achieves ‘On a Typical Day.’
CBP routinely conducts inspection operations on arriving and departing international flights and intercepts narcotics, weapons, currency, prohibited agriculture products, and other illicit items. Learn more about how CBP secures our nation’s borders at www.CBP.gov.
CBP Officers in Tampa Seize Counterfeit Super Bowl Rings
U.S. Customs & Border Protection
TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers at Tampa International Airport seized counterfeit NFL championship rings in a shipment from China worth a total estimated Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $300,000.
CBP officers discovered the rings while conducting consignment facilities operations. NFL representatives confirmed the findings, indicating that the rings were a poor attempt to duplicate Super Bowl images and hand tags. “Seizing counterfeit merchandise is one of the most important missions of U.S. Customs and Border Protection,” said Miami/Tampa Field Office Director of Field Operations Diane J. Sabatino. “Not only are our officers protecting businesses from significant financial loss, but the public from serious health and safety threats.”
The enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights is a CBP Priority Trade Issue. Priority Trade Issues represent high-risk areas that can cause significant revenue loss, harm the U.S. economy, or threaten the health and safety of the American people. They drive the risk-informed investment of CBP resources as well as enforcement and facilitation efforts, including special enforcement operations, outreach, and regulatory initiatives.
CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) released their Fiscal Year 2015 IPR Seizure Statistics and an accompanying news release on April 15, 2016. In Fiscal Year 2015, 28,865 seizures of counterfeit and pirated goods, worth an estimated MSRP value of $1.3 billion, were made.
The men and women of CBP are responsible for enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws and regulations. On a typical day, CBP welcomes nearly 1 million visitors, screens more than 67,000 cargo containers, arrests more than 1,100 individuals and seizes nearly 6 tons of illicit drugs.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations in Florida include travel and trade facilitation and securing over 1,200 miles of the coastal border. Follow @CBPFlorida on Twitter for breaking news and information updates.
If you have any suspicion of or information regarding suspected fraud or illegal trade activity, please contact CBP through the e-Allegations website or by calling 1-800-BE-ALERT.
Safer Products Start Here! - Consumer Product Safety Commission
Welcome to CPSC’s Regulatory Robot!
Are you a small business starting out and manufacturing a product for children or other consumers? You may be wondering which federal product safety requirements, like CPSIA, apply to your product. We're here to help steer you in the right direction.
We've designed our Regulatory Robot to guide you through our requirements to identify important product safety requirements that you should review before manufacturing or importing your consumer product. As most products are unique, each product may need to comply with different requirements so you'll need to run the Robot one time for each product. The Regulatory Robot asks you a series of simple questions to provide you with the basic guidance you need to move forward with your design and manufacturing process. Product safety and compliance are serious stuff, and we hope that the Regulatory Robot is the beginning of your journey to manufacture products that are safe and compliant for American consumers.
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FTC Providing $4 Million in Full Refunds to People Tricked into Buying Bogus ‘Extended Auto Warranties’
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 5,970 refund checks totaling more than $4 million to people who were bombarded with illegal robocalls and tricked into paying thousands of dollars for bogus “extended auto warranties.”
The checks, which are being mailed today and provide full refunds, are the result of the FTC’s extensive efforts to collect the entire $4,255,209 judgment entered against the defendants Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian and his company, The Dolce Group Worldwide, LLC.
The FTC’s June 2010 complaint alleged the defendants, doing business under the name My Car Solutions, conned people into paying thousands of dollars by leading them to believe that the company was affiliated with auto dealers and manufacturers, and that it was offering to sell them extended auto warranties. In reality, no one received an actual warranty extension and people who tried to get their money back found it nearly impossible.
The final court order settling the FTC’s charges bans the defendants from telemarketing or helping others to telemarket, prohibits them from making any misrepresentations or omissions when selling any goods or services, and includes the $4.2 million monetary judgment.
Rust Consulting, Inc., the refund administrator for this matter, will begin mailing refund checks today. The checks must be cashed within 60 days or they will become void. Recipients should note that the FTC never requires consumers to pay money or provide information before redress checks can be cashed. If you have questions, please call 1-877-703-3427.