Three More Parties Added to the UFLPA Entity Lists - Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has today, 9/26/2023, added three more entities to those designated under the UFLPA, bringing the total number of designated entities to 27.
As per the DHS announcement, the newly added entities are:
Xinjiang Zhongtai Group Co. Ltd. (headquartered in Xinjiang and produces and sells polyvinyl chloride (PVC), iconic membrane caustic soda, industrial salt, calcium carbide, viscose fiber, viscose yarn, and other textile, chemical, and building materials).
Xinjiang Tianshan Wool Textile Co. Ltd. (headquartered in Xinjiang and sells and manufactures cashmere and wool garments, as well as velvet and other textile products).
Xinjiang Tianmian Foundation Textile Co. (headquartered in Xinjiang and produces yarn and textile products).
Effective September 27, 2023, shipments of goods produced by these entities, or incorporating inputs from these companies, will be subject to the UFLPA restrictions as a result of their alleged participation in business practices that target members of persecuted groups, including Uyghur minorities, in the PRC.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of our attorneys for more information.
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Federal Register Notices:
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Forged Steel Fittings From the Republic of Korea: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review
• Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts From Colombia: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2021-2022
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Large Power Transformers From the Republic of Korea: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review
• Investigations; Determinations, Modifications, and Rulings, etc.: Certain Vaporizer Devices, Cartridges Used Therewith, and Components Thereof; Institution of Investigation
• Tin- and Chromium-Coated Steel Sheet From Japan; Denial of Request To Institute a Section 751(b) Review Concerning the Commission's Affirmative Determination
• Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts From Belgium, Colombia, and Thailand; Notice of Commission Determinations to Conduct Full Five-Year Reviews
• Certain High-Performance Gravity-Fed Water Filters and Products Containing the Same; Notice of the Commission's Final Determination Finding No Violation of Section 337; Termination of the Investigation
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Pure Magnesium in Granular Form From the People's Republic of China: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Order
• Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2022-2023
• Investigations; Determinations, Modifications, and Rulings, etc.: Honey From China; Determination
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Certain Activated Carbon From the People's Republic of China: Final Results of Expedited Third Sunset Review of the Antidumping Duty Order
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Certain Activated Carbon From the People's Republic of China: Final Results of Expedited Third Sunset Review of the Antidumping Duty Order
• Investigations; Determinations, Modifications, and Rulings, etc.: Certain Smart Televisions; Notice of a Commission Determination Not To Review an Initial Determination Granting a Joint Motion To Terminate the Investigation in its Entirety; Termination of Investigation
• Certain Selective Thyroid Hormone Receptor-Beta Agonists, Processes for Manufacturing or Relating to Same, and Products Containing Same; Notice of a Commission Determination Not To Review an Initial Determination Granting a Motion To Intervene
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OTEXA: Announcements - International Trade Administration / Office of Textile & Apparel
[09/26/2023] – Federal Register Notice (FRN) on the Limitations on Duty and Quota-Free Imports of Apparel Articles Assembled in Beneficiary Sub-Saharan African Countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The new AGOA caps are for the one-year period from October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024.
[09/12/2023] – USTR invites comments to assist in identifying significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods and services, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic commerce for inclusion in the annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE Report). Deadline for submission of comments is October 23, 2023. See the Federal Register Notice 88 FR 62421 for further details and instructions.
[09/11/2023] – The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has extended two tranches of exclusions—352 previously reinstated exclusions and 77 COVID-related exclusions—from Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods to provide a transition period and allow for further consideration of these products under the ongoing four-year review, which is expected to be completed in the Fall. The two sets of exclusions, which were set to expire on September 30, have been extended until December 31, 2023. For more details, see the Federal Register Notice 88 FR 62423.
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Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 - FDA
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FACT SHEET: Impact of a Government Shutdown on the DHS Workforce - U.S. Department of Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) workforce is comprised of extraordinary public servants who safeguard this nation around the clock – responding to cyberattacks; protecting and saving lives on land, at sea, and in the air; securing our nation’s borders and critical infrastructure; deploying across the country to help Americans recover from disasters; and so much more. Any lapse in federal funding would disrupt this vital work, leaving Americans less safe as a result.
As the third largest department of the federal government, DHS is home to hundreds of thousands of hard-working individuals devoted to public service. A shutdown would affect every member of the DHS community in some way, putting a strain on our team members’ ability to make ends meet, put food on the table, and more.
72% of the DHS workforce would be required to work without pay
Nearly three in four DHS employees – more than 185,000 people – would be required to continue working through a shutdown, without receiving a paycheck. Those working without pay include law enforcement officers, analysts, investigators, and disaster response officials conducting work such as:
• Safeguarding and securing our borders;
• Processing, detaining, and removing individuals that have unlawfully entered the United States
• Seizing illegal narcotics like fentanyl;
• Identifying, disrupting, and dismantling criminal operations that smuggle weapons, drugs, and migrants;
• Combating child exploitation and child predators;
• Identifying and arresting human traffickers;
• Conducting search and rescue operations;
• Responding to natural disasters;
• Preventing and coordinating responses to cyberattacks and threats to the federal government and other critical infrastructure; and
• Protecting U.S. government leaders and foreign dignitaries.
MORE DETAIL ON THE IMPACTS:
Over 19,000 Unpaid U.S. Border Patrol Agents and 25,000 Unpaid Office of Field Operations Officers: CBP agents and officers working at over 300 ports of entry and protecting more than 6,000 miles of border under challenging circumstances would be required to continue performing their vital missions without pay.
Stopped Funding to Border Communities and Interior Cities: DHS provided over $770 million this year to support border & interior communities to cover costs associated with sheltering migrants in their cities. Recipients may be unable to draw down on a portion of the funds, and no new awards will be made under a shutdown.
Reduced Cybersecurity and Physical Security Support to the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure: During today’s heightened cyber threat environment, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) capacity to provide timely and actionable guidance to help partners defend their networks would be degraded. CISA would also be forced to suspend both physical and cybersecurity assessments for government and industry partners, including election officials as well as target rich, cyber poor sectors like water, K-12, and health care, which are prime targets for ransomware.
Hardship for nearly 40,000 Active Military Personnel: The dedicated men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard will only be compensated for their unpaid work if a specific appropriation is passed, unlike all other military service branches. Additionally, unlike civilian employees, they are not able to file for interim support such as unemployment benefits to supplement their income until an appropriation is passed. This creates the most significant hardship for the U.S. Coast Guard’s enlisted service members.
Reduced Readiness of Federal Law Enforcement: Certain Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) trainings for new public safety personnel and ongoing skills for public safety personnel would continue and have employees provide necessary duties without receiving pay. However, some basic training and most advanced training would be stopped until the government is funded. FLETC training personnel would be unable to travel to conduct expert training, and scheduled law enforcement training programs for state, local, and tribal agencies across the country would be suspended until a budget is passed. This will impact law enforcement readiness across the country.
Slowed Deployment of Advanced Security Technology at Airports: On average, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screens 2.5 million passengers per day, exceeding pre-pandemic travel volumes. If the government shuts down, air traffic controllers and TSA Officers would be required to work without pay—potentially leading to significant delays and longer wait times for travelers at airports across the country, based on what occurred during previous shutdowns. Additionally, a government shutdown could potentially delay the deployment of new security technology equipment to airports.
Threaten Long-Term Disaster Relief: This would be the first time that a shutdown coincides with depletion of the Disaster Relief Fund. FEMA would be forced to continue delaying support for community recovery to preserve resources for immediate life and safety concerns deployed in the wake of a catastrophic event—shifting disaster response burdens to the States, territories, Tribes, and local communities.
Long-term Impacts to Hiring and Onboarding: There would be serious delays in onboarding, disruptions in critical roles, and challenges in filling positions in both the short and long-term. As of September 18, 2023, DHS has issued and candidates have accepted nearly 2,500 tentative job offers. The onboarding process required to officially hire these new employees would be paused until the government reopens. This is particularly problematic ahead of the holiday travel season, where more TSA Officers will be needed to screen travelers.
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FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power - Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general today sued Amazon.com, Inc. alleging that the online retail and technology company is a monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power. The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.
The complaint alleges that Amazon violates the law not because it is big, but because it engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging. By stifling competition on price, product selection, quality, and by preventing its current or future rivals from attracting a critical mass of shoppers and sellers, Amazon ensures that no current or future rival can threaten its dominance. Amazon’s far-reaching schemes impact hundreds of billions of dollars in retail sales every year, touch hundreds of thousands of products sold by businesses big and small and affect over a hundred million shoppers.
“Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them. Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition.”
“We’re bringing this case because Amazon’s illegal conduct has stifled competition across a huge swath of the online economy. Amazon is a monopolist that uses its power to hike prices on American shoppers and charge sky-high fees on hundreds of thousands of online sellers,” said John Newman, Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “Seldom in the history of U.S. antitrust law has one case had the potential to do so much good for so many people.”
The FTC and states allege Amazon’s anticompetitive conduct occurs in two markets—the online superstore market that serves shoppers and the market for online marketplace services purchased by sellers. These tactics include:
• Anti-discounting measures that punish sellers and deter other online retailers from offering prices lower than Amazon, keeping prices higher for products across the internet. For example, if Amazon discovers that a seller is offering lower-priced goods elsewhere, Amazon can bury discounting sellers so far down in Amazon’s search results that they become effectively invisible.
• Conditioning sellers’ ability to obtain “Prime” eligibility for their products—a virtual necessity for doing business on Amazon—on sellers using Amazon’s costly fulfillment service, which has made it substantially more expensive for sellers on Amazon to also offer their products on other platforms. This unlawful coercion has in turn limited competitors’ ability to effectively compete against Amazon.
Amazon’s illegal, exclusionary conduct makes it impossible for competitors to gain a foothold. With its amassed power across both the online superstore market and online marketplace services market, Amazon extracts enormous monopoly rents from everyone within its reach. This includes:
• Degrading the customer experience by replacing relevant, organic search results with paid advertisements—and deliberately increasing junk ads that worsen search quality and frustrate both shoppers seeking products and sellers who are promised a return on their advertising purchase.
• Biasing Amazon’s search results to preference Amazon’s own products over ones that Amazon knows are of better quality.
• Charging costly fees on the hundreds of thousands of sellers that currently have no choice but to rely on Amazon to stay in business. These fees range from a monthly fee sellers must pay for each item sold, to advertising fees that have become virtually necessary for sellers to do business. Combined, all of these fees force many sellers to pay close to 50% of their total revenues to Amazon. These fees harm not only sellers but also shoppers, who pay increased prices for thousands of products sold on or off Amazon.
The FTC, along with its state partners, are seeking a permanent injunction in federal court that would prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and pry loose Amazon’s monopolistic control to restore competition.
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin joined the Commission’s lawsuit. The Commission vote to authorize staff to file for a permanent injunction and other equitable relief in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington was 3-0.
NOTE: The Commission issues 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.
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FTC Joins FCC in Renewing Memorandum of Understanding to Promote Cross-Border Law Enforcement Efforts to Combat Spam, Scams, and Illegal Telemarketing - Federal Trade Commission
Agencies are partnering with the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network
The Federal Trade Commission has joined the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in signing a renewed memorandum of understanding (MOU) between public authorities who are members of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (UCENet). The MOU aims to promote cross-border collaboration to combat unsolicited communications, including email and text spam, scams, and illegal telemarketing.
Explore Data with the FTC: Do Not Call Robocall Complaints
“The FTC is committed to using all of its tools to fight robocalls and other unsolicited communications that try to prey on consumers,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “This scourge does not respect borders, and our recommitment to this MOU underscores the importance of international communication and cooperation to combat this problem.”
Given the success of the collaboration under the original document, UCENet members agreed to renew and make evergreen the MOU, a non-binding instrument which the FTC and its partners signed in 2016. The 2016 MOU was aimed at facilitating information sharing, capacity building, and enforcement assistance among the partners. For the past seven years, it also has facilitated communication about emerging threats and complaint trends related to spam, scams, and illegal telemarketing.
The UCENET MOU is part of the FTC’s continuing to work to fight harms that can arise from unwanted messages. Unsolicited communications in the form of illegal and spoofed robocalls, text messages, and emails are often the source of scams that harm millions of consumers in the United States each year. The revised MOU also has been signed by UCENet partners in Canada, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
The FTC’s work in this area includes its recent Operation Stop Scam Calls initiative, which united federal and state law enforcement partners from across the United States in their fight against illegal telemarketing operations and the companies that facilitate their scams via lead generation and telecommunications services.
The effort also targeted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers who facilitate illegal robocalls every year, which often originate overseas. The collaboration, information-sharing, and intelligence-sharing by UCENet MOU signatories serves to strengthen, enhance, and complement the work of the FTC and other domestic agencies fighting the scourge of unwanted and illegal telemarketing calls.
The lead staffer on this matter was Kristina Mulligan in the Commission’s Office of International Affairs.
The Federal Trade Commission works with counterpart agencies to promote sound antitrust, consumer protection, and data privacy enforcement and policy. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases and the FTC International Monthly for the latest FTC news and resources.