Dumping

WTO:         

The World Trade Organization (WTO) received an appeal from China against its panel ruling which backed a U.S. complaint against anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed by Chinese authorities on imports of U.S. grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel (GOES) (29 ITR 1233; 7/26/12).

Brazil:         

The Foreign Trade Chamber approved a 182% surcharge on shoe parts imported from China allegedly being imported as components and assembled locally to avoid the anti-dumping tariff imposed on Chinese shoe products (29 ITR 1157; 7/12/12).

U.S.:           

Commerce Department announced a final affirmative determination that exporters from Korea are dumping large power transformers at margins ranging from 14.95% to 29.04% (Large Power Transformers from Korea, ITA); (29 ITR 1164; 7/12/12).

Imports:

China:         

Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) jointly released a public notice regarding applications for import duty discounts related to the importation of advanced and critical technology components including those for renewable energy technologies to identify those which are eligible for subsidy (29 ITR 1148; 7/12/12).

Standards

South Korea: 

According to the new Korean Ministry of Environment procedures, the U.S. and Canada have been added to its list of countries with which it has mutual recognition agreements for sharing jurisdiction over environment-friendly product certification (29 ITR 1220; 7/26/12).

Bilateral Agreements

Russia:        

The Parliament has approved a new three (3) year multiple entry visa regime to simplify visa application procedures creating for tourists and business persons allowing a consecutive term of stay of up to six (6) months with such visas to be approved in a period of no more than 15 days after filing an application (29 ITR 1228; 7/26/12).

E.U.:           

The European Union (EU) signed a comprehensive free trade agreement with Colombia and Peru.  (29 ITR 1099; 7/5/12). 

Regional Agreements

Vietnam:      

 A memorandum has been signed with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which includes the countries of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to cover trade in merchandise goods, services, investment, intellectual property, government procurement, competition policy and labor standards (29 ITR 1145; 7/19/12).

Automotives

Argentina:   

The government unilaterally suspended the auto trade deal with Mexico for three (3) years (29 ITR 1156; 7/12/12).

Economic Espionage

U.S.:           

H.R.6029 (The Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act of 2012) would significantly increase the maximum penalty for economic espionage to $5 million for individuals and $10 million for organizations or 3 times the value of a stolen trade secret (29 ITR 1175; 7/19/12).

Trade Policy

Russia:        

The Parliament approved controversial legislation to increase the reporting requirements for political non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receiving foreign support to label them as “foreign agents” (29 ITR 1185; 7/19/12).

Sanctions

U.S.:           

The Burmese Freedom Democracy Act (BFDA) was extended for three (3) additional years through July 2015 to encourage the development of democracy in that country (29 ITR 1214; 7/26/12).

Outsourcing

U.S.:           

S.3392 (Outsourcing Accountability Act) would amend the 1934 Securities Exchange Act to require issuers to disclose the total number of employees that they hire in subsidiaries overseas (29 ITR 1223; 7/26/12).

Intellectual Property

China:         

The National Copyright Administration released the second draft of the Copyright Law for comment (29 ITR 1193; 7/19/12).

Immigration

China:         

The government passed a new entry-exit law that increases punishments and fines for foreigners who illegally enter, live and work in the country reducing the minimum validity period for work certificates from 180 to 90 days and raised the fine for employment of illegal workers (29 ITR 1194; 7/19/12).

Export Controls

U.S.:           

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) requested comments on whether changes should be made to its export shipping tolerance regulations to make automatic calculation feasible through the Automated Export System (AES) (77 Fed. Reg. 39679; 29 ITR 1133; 7/12/12).

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published two (2) final export control rules implementing understandings reached in the international meetings of the Wassenaar Arrangement (77 Fed. Reg. 39,353) and the Australian Group (77 Fed. Reg. 39,162); (29 ITR 1093; 7/5/12). 

Energy

Russia:        

The biomass industry will begin implementation of European standards allowing domestic producers to have their products officially certified expanding the export market for wood pellets and bioenergy feedstocks (29 ITR 1100; 7/5/12). 

Export Controls 

U.S.:           

Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (PWC), a Canadian subsidiary of the United Technologies Corporation, a Connecticut based defense contractor, has been ordered to pay more than $75 million dollars for selling military software to China in violation of the Arms Export Control Act (U.S. v. United Technologies Corp., D. Conn. No. 3:12-CR-00146) (29 ITR 1164; 7/12/12). 

Intellectual Property

Brazil:         

The Environment Ministry levied fines of $43 million in an ongoing crackdown on biopiracy which includes some U.S. companies in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical business (29 ITR 1237; 7/26/12).

U.S.:           

A plaintiff in a Lanham Act trademark infringement lawsuit must prove willfulness by a preponderance of the evidence rather than meeting the higher standard of clear and convincing evidence (Fishman Transducers, Inc. v. Paul, 1st Cir., No. 11-1663, 7/3/12)  (29 ITR 1200; 7/19/12).

China:         

Jiangsu Snow Leopard Household Chemical Company which manufactures detergents and air fresheners claims it registered the trade mark “Snow Leopard” in 42 categories and filed a claim against Apple, Inc. alleging infringement of the Snow Leopard mark in China (29 ITR 1149; 7/12/12).

Services

India:          

Only “advocates” falling under the purview of Advocates Act of 1961 are allowed to practice litigation or non-litigation law in the country, thereby preventing foreign law firms from opening liaison offices in India unless they comply with this statute (A.K. Balaji v. The Union of India and Others, S.L.P.) (Civil No(s). 17150-17154 of 2012, 7/4/12) (29 ITR 1189; 7/19/12).

Agriculture

U.S.:           

An arbitration panel determined that timber pricing from British Columbia did not violate the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) upon the conclusion of the arbitration proceeding at the London Court of International Arbitration (29 ITR 1239; 7/26/12).

Environment

U.S.:           

H.R.4402 (National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act) will streamline regulations on the development of rare earth mineral mining projects (29 ITR 1191; 7/19/12).

Dumping

U.S.:           

The U.S. Court of International Trade remanded to the Commerce Department (DOC/ITA) its scope ruling on off-the-road tires (OTR) from China requesting it complete its analysis under the applicable regulation and finding that its determination was not backed by substantial evidence when DOC found that tires imported from China were not included within the exclusion from the imposition of Safeguard Tariffs (OTR Wheel Engineering, Inc. v. U.S., Ct. Int’l Trade, No. 11-00166) (Slip Op. 12-89, 6/27/12); (29 ITR 1118; 7/6/12).

Sanctions

EU:             

The European Union joined Canada, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland in raising concerns about legislation in Florida which bans procurement bids for state contracts for companies doing business in Cuba and Syria (29 ITR 1241; 7/26/12).

U.S.:          

The Treasury Department of Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an alert to the U.S. maritime industry that the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has been attempting to evade international sanctions through deceptive practices operating vessels despite their flags having been revoked (29 ITR 1245; 7/26/12).

The State Department announced measures to ease U.S. sanctions on investment in Burma in establishing reporting requirements of four such investments (29 ITR 1187; 7/19/12).

Exceptions were granted to China and Singapore regarding sanctions that are triggered by the purchase of Iranian oil as a new phase became effective under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which imposes sanctions on foreign financial institutions that engaged in significant financial transactions with the Central Bank of Iran (29 ITR 1121; 7/5/12). 

*Excerpts from Economic and Financial Indicators published by The Economist, July 28, 2012

Sources:  BLR – Bloomberg Law Reports Antitrust & Trade; BNA – BNA, Inc., Highlights: International Trade Daily (ITD), International Trade Reporter (ITR), International Trade Reporter Decisions (ITRD), TMIJ-Tax Management International Journal; IL – International Lawyer, SMU School of Law; FT – Financial Times; TE – The Economist Magazine; GATM – German American Trade Magazine of the German American Chamber of Commerce; WSJ – Wall Street Journal; ILN/ABA-International Law News, American Bar Association; International Law News, ILN (American Bar Association; LB-Lehman Brown China Business Insights International Accountants; and Lehman, Lee & Xu; China Patents in the News, January 2012.

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