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06

UPDATE: Request for CSMS to Advise Trade of Closure - CSMS

The Ports of Brunswick, Georgia and Savannah, Georgia will continue to be closed through Thursday, September 5, 2019 due to Hurricane Dorian. CBP is extending local closure days to include September 5, 2019 to all who file entries at the Ports of  Brunswick, Georgia and Savannah, Georgia, without penalty, for any entry summaries and payment of duties that were due September 3, 4 and 5, 2019. The Ports of Brunswick and Savannah will resume normal business operations on Friday, September 6, 2019. 


USITC Makes Determinations in Five-Year (Sunset) Reviews Concerning Circular Welded Carbon Quality Steel Line Pipe from China - U.S. International Trade Commission

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today determined that revoking the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of circular welded carbon quality steel line pipe from China 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 and countervailing duty orders on imports of this product from China will remain in place. 

Chairman David S. Johanson and Commissioners Rhonda K. Schmidtlein, and Jason E. Kearns voted in the affirmative.  Commissioners Randolph J. Stayin and Amy A. Karpel did not participate in these votes.

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 Circular Welded Carbon Quality Steel Line Pipe from China (Inv. Nos. 701-TA-455 and 731-TA-1149 (Second Review), USITC Publication 4955, September 2019) will contain the views of the Commission and information developed during the reviews.

The report will be available by October 10, 2019; when available, it may be accessed on the USITC website at: https://www.usitc.gov/commission_publications_library.

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 Circular Welded Carbon Quality Steel Line Pipe from China were instituted on April 1, 2019.

On July 5, 2019, the Commission voted to conduct expedited reviews. Chairman David S. Johanson and Commissioners Irving A. Williamson, Meredith M. Broadbent, Rhonda K. Schmidtlein, and Jason E. Kearns concluded that the domestic group response was adequate and the respondent group response was inadequate and voted for expedited 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.


Federal Register Notices:

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of certain fabricated structural steel from China and Mexico, finding that exporters from China and Mexico have dumped fabricated structural steel in the United States at margins ranging from 0.00 percent to 141.38 percent and 0.00 percent to 30.58 percent, respectively. The Department also announced a negative preliminary determination in the AD investigation of certain fabricated structural steel from Canada.

As a result of today’s decisions, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of fabricated structural steel from China and Mexico based on the preliminary rates noted above.

In 2018, imports of fabricated structural steel from Canada, China, and Mexico were valued at an estimated $722.5 million, $897.5 million, and $622.4 million, respectively.

The petitioner is the American Institute of Steel Construction Full Member Subgroup (Chicago, IL).

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 182 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – a 231 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 492 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

Commerce is scheduled to announce the final determinations in these investigations on or about January 24, 2020.

If Commerce’s final determinations are affirmative, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determinations on or about March 9, 2020. If Commerce makes affirmative final determinations of dumping, and the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD orders. If Commerce makes negative final determinations of dumping, or the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.

  • Click HERE for a fact sheet on today’s decisions.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade law and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international law and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

Foreign companies that price their products in the U.S. market below the cost of production or below prices in their home markets are subject to antidumping duties. Companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments, such as grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks, or production inputs, are subject to countervailing duties aimed at directly countering those subsidies.


In the News:

A federal court has ordered two Tennessee-based companies and their owner to stop distributing drugs, dietary supplements and devices until the companies comply with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act and other requirements listed in a consent decree. According to the complaint filed with the consent decree, the defendants unlawfully distributed unapproved new drugs, adulterated and misbranded dietary supplements and an adulterated and misbranded device.

“Americans expect and deserve products that meet appropriate standards for quality. To ensure safe use by consumers, it’s important that companies who sell products adhere to standards set forth by the FD&C Act, including product labeling and quality,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, M.D. “Despite previous warnings, Basic Reset and Biogenyx placed consumers at risk by distributing certain products in violation of current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements and products which failed to adequately meet labeling standards. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration remains fully committed to taking enforcement action against companies and owners who place unsuspecting American consumers at risk.”

The FDA has not approved Basic Reset’s or Biogenyx’s drugs or device for any use, despite the companies’ claims that these products could be used to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent conditions such as inflammation, chronic diarrhea, bacterial infections, head lice, allergies and pain. Basic Reset and Biogenyx also unlawfully distributed dietary supplements that are adulterated and misbranded. During inspections at the facility, FDA investigators found numerous violations of the CGMP requirements for dietary supplements, including failing to establish specifications to ensure that the products they receive for labeling are adequately identified and consistent with the purchase order and failing to establish and follow written procedures to review and investigate product complaints. Because the defendants failed to follow CGMP regulations, their dietary supplements are considered adulterated. Several of the defendants’ dietary supplements are also missing information on their labels required by law, rendering those products misbranded.  Additionally, defendants distributed a device that is adulterated and misbranded. According to the complaint, despite previous warnings from the FDA and repeated promises to correct deficiencies, defendants continued to violate the law. 

As a result of these violations, today, U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Basic Reset and Biogenyx, sole proprietorships, Fred R. Kaufman III, owner, and Kimberly Kaufman. The complaint, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, sought a permanent injunction against the Hendersonville, Tenn., drug, dietary supplement and device distributors and the companies’ most responsible individuals.

This action follows multiple FDA inspections conducted at Basic Reset and Biogenyx between 2012 and 2017. The FDA issued a warning letter to the companies in 2016 for similar violations. Despite assurances that the violations noted in the warning letter would be corrected, follow-up inspections revealed that the defendants had failed to make the necessary corrections.

The consent decree prohibits Basic Reset and Biogenyx and the other defendants from directly or indirectly receiving, labeling, holding, or distributing dietary supplements, drugs or devices at or from their facility until they take certain steps to ensure that all of these products comply with the law including, among other things, recalling their drugs, dietary supplements and device products, hiring qualified experts to ensure conformity with CGMP and other requirements and receiving written permission from the FDA to resume operations.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.


Google and YouTube Will Pay Record $170 Million for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Law - Federal Trade Commission

NOTE: The FTC hosted an IN-PERSON press conference at FTC Headquarters, at 600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington D.C. 20580 at 11 A.M. ET TODAY (September 4). The news conference was also webcast.

Participants included: FTC Chairman Joe Simons and Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Andrew Smith.

Google LLC and its subsidiary YouTube, LLC will pay a record $170 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General that the YouTube video sharing service illegally collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent.

The settlement requires Google and YouTube to pay $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to New York for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule. The $136 million penalty is by far the largest amount the FTC has ever obtained in a COPPA case since Congress enacted the law in 1998.

In a complaint filed against the companies, the FTC and New York Attorney General allege that YouTube violated the COPPA Rule by collecting personal information—in the form of persistent identifiers that are used to track users across the Internet—from viewers of child-directed channels, without first notifying parents and getting their consent. YouTube earned millions of dollars by using the identifiers, commonly known as cookies, to deliver targeted ads to viewers of these channels, according to the complaint.

The COPPA Rule requires that child-directed websites and online services provide notice of their information practices and obtain parental consent prior to collecting personal information from children under 13, including the use of persistent identifiers to track a user’s Internet browsing habits for targeted advertising. In addition, third parties, such as advertising networks, are also subject to COPPA where they have actual knowledge they are collecting personal information directly from users of child-directed websites and online services.

“YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. “Yet when it came to complying with COPPA, the company refused to acknowledge that portions of its platform were clearly directed to kids. There’s no excuse for YouTube’s violations of the law.”

The YouTube platform allows Google account holders, including large commercial entities, to create “channels” to display their content. According to the complaint, eligible channel owners can choose to monetize their channel by allowing YouTube to serve behaviorally targeted advertisements, which generates revenue for both the channel owners and YouTube.

In the complaint, the FTC and New York Attorney General allege that while YouTube claimed to be a general-audience site, some of YouTube’s individual channels—such as those operated by toy companies—are child-directed and therefore must comply with COPPA.

The complaint notes that the defendants knew that the YouTube platform had numerous child-directed channels. YouTube marketed itself as a top destination for kids in presentations to the makers of popular children’s products and brands. For example, Google and YouTube told Mattel, maker of Barbie and Monster High toys, that “YouTube is today’s leader in reaching children age 6-11 against top TV channels” and told Hasbro, which makes My Little Pony and Play-Doh, that YouTube is the “#1 website regularly visited by kids.”

Several channel owners told YouTube and Google that their channels’ content was directed to children, and in other instances YouTube’s own content rating system identified content as directed to children. In addition, according to the complaint, YouTube manually reviewed children’s content from its YouTube platform to feature in its YouTube Kids app. Despite this knowledge of channels directed to children on the YouTube platform, YouTube served targeted advertisements on these channels. According to the complaint, it even told one advertising company that it did not have users younger than 13 on its platform and therefore channels on its platform did not need to comply with COPPA.

Settlement with the FTC

In addition to the monetary penalty, the proposed settlement requires Google and YouTube to develop, implement, and maintain a system that permits channel owners to identify their child-directed content on the YouTube platform so that YouTube can ensure it is complying with COPPA. In addition, the companies must notify channel owners that their child-directed content may be subject to the COPPA Rule’s obligations and provide annual training about complying with COPPA for employees who deal with YouTube channel owners.

The settlement also prohibits Google and YouTube from violating the COPPA Rule, and requires them to provide notice about their data collection practices and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children.

The Commission voted 3-2 to authorize the complaint and stipulated final orderto be filed. Chairman Simons and Commissioner Christine S. Wilson issued a statement on this matter, while Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips, Rohit Chopra, and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter issued separate statements.

The complaint and proposed consent decree were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. NOTE: The Commission authorizes the filing of a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Consent decrees have the force of law when approved and signed by the district court judge.

The FTC would like to thank the coalition of consumer groups represented by Georgetown University’s Institute for Public Representation that filed a petition providing valuable information on this matter.

 
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