The North American Free Trade Agreement should include provisions governing intellectual property, recognize the importance of the internet, and be free of impediments to U.S. companies operating in foreign countries, said industry associations in comments submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Friday. “The U.S. approach to renegotiating NAFTA should reflect the increasing importance of Internet-enabled trade to the U.S. economy,” said CCIA. “For the Internet to serve its trade-enabling role, and for local entrepreneurs to drive crossborder economic activity, trade negotiators need to ensure predictable liability protections are in place across countries where users and content creators are sharing information on Internet platforms,” said CTA. The agreement should include principles consistent with an open internet, said Public Knowledge. PK also commented on the agreement’s provisions on intellectual property, though it said NAFTA may not be the correct place for such provisions. “When multiple bilateral and regional trade agreements address substantive intellectual property in detail, they run the risk of an inconsistent and complex patchwork of obligations,” PK said. If copyright provisions are part of NAFTA, they should preserve public interest balance and “require limitations and exceptions to copyright, which are essential in modern societies and economies,” PK said. North American trading partners should “maintain a balanced system of intellectual property regulation” said CCIA. NAB, CTA and the Satellite Industry Association said NAFTA shouldn't include rules that make it difficult for U.S. companies to work with Canada and Mexico. The agreement should address Canadian retransmission of U.S broadcast content and Canada’s “discriminatory tax treatment” of U.S. broadcasters, NAB said. The agreement “should require copyright limitations and exceptions like fair use that have been essential to U.S. innovation and the strength of the U.S. tech sector,” CTA said. “The absence of such provisions in Mexico leaves the U.S. tech sector vulnerable there -- particularly as Mexico strengthens other parts of its copyright system,” CTA said. NAFTA should “prohibit” the “trade barriers which create performance demands on U.S. satellite services in Canada and Mexico,” SIA said. The Communications Workers of America suggested a host of changes to the agreement to improve its effects on labor. “NAFTA has had a hugely negative impact on CWA members and other working families across this country,” CWA said. “The renegotiation of NAFTA must replace this deal written by and for multinational corporations with an agreement that is designed to create jobs and raise wages for working men and women."
High-quality broadband, satellite communications and various devices play roles in e-health, early replies in FCC docket 16-46 showed Thursday. Comments were due later that day. "Reliable, secure, high-speed, high-bandwidth, low-latency broadband access is critical to enabling access to care and modern healthcare technologies," said Baxter. "As healthcare organizations transition from wired to wireless, and as data moves from within an organization’s private network to the broadband network, the cybersecurity, privacy, legal, and other risks grow. ... Guidance, tools, and policies" can help, it said: "Broadband-enabled services are used in all healthcare settings." Initial comments show such solutions "always depend upon a reliable and secure broadband connection of sufficient speed and capacity," wrote the Satellite Industry Association. SIA touted satellite broadband as a telehealth solution. Nokia said medical research shows health "benefits of self-monitoring in the areas of activity, weight and blood pressure and sleep." Initial comments on a public notice urged the FCC to hike rural healthcare funding; the USF healthcare connect fund has $400 million yearly (see 1705250035).
High-quality broadband, satellite communications and various devices play roles in e-health, early replies in FCC docket 16-46 showed Thursday. Comments were due later that day. "Reliable, secure, high-speed, high-bandwidth, low-latency broadband access is critical to enabling access to care and modern healthcare technologies," said Baxter. "As healthcare organizations transition from wired to wireless, and as data moves from within an organization’s private network to the broadband network, the cybersecurity, privacy, legal, and other risks grow. ... Guidance, tools, and policies" can help, it said: "Broadband-enabled services are used in all healthcare settings." Initial comments show such solutions "always depend upon a reliable and secure broadband connection of sufficient speed and capacity," wrote the Satellite Industry Association. SIA touted satellite broadband as a telehealth solution. Nokia said medical research shows health "benefits of self-monitoring in the areas of activity, weight and blood pressure and sleep." Initial comments on a public notice urged the FCC to hike rural healthcare funding; the USF healthcare connect fund has $400 million yearly (see 1705250035).
High-quality broadband, satellite communications and various devices play roles in e-health, early replies in FCC docket 16-46 showed Thursday. Comments were due later that day. "Reliable, secure, high-speed, high-bandwidth, low-latency broadband access is critical to enabling access to care and modern healthcare technologies," said Baxter. "As healthcare organizations transition from wired to wireless, and as data moves from within an organization’s private network to the broadband network, the cybersecurity, privacy, legal, and other risks grow. ... Guidance, tools, and policies" can help, it said: "Broadband-enabled services are used in all healthcare settings." Initial comments show such solutions "always depend upon a reliable and secure broadband connection of sufficient speed and capacity," wrote the Satellite Industry Association. SIA touted satellite broadband as a telehealth solution. Nokia said medical research shows health "benefits of self-monitoring in the areas of activity, weight and blood pressure and sleep." Initial comments on a public notice urged the FCC to hike rural healthcare funding; the USF healthcare connect fund has $400 million yearly (see 1705250035).
The Senate should confirm the Trump administration's two nominations to the board of the Export-Import Bank, since those confirmations would give the board a quorum again and let the bank provide credit support to projects $10 million and larger, the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) said in a statement Friday. SIA said Ex-Im "has been virtually closed" for more than a year to the satellite industry due to the vacant board seats. The White House earlier this month said it was nominating former Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., as Ex-Im president, and Spencer Bachus of Bachus & Brom as board member.
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he would back reconsideration of the FCC's Connect America Fund Phase II bid weights decision (see 1702230019) since it "seem[ed] to intentionally favor fiber over wireless and satellite" in setting the weights for determining winning bids. At Monday's Satellite Industry Association (SIA) dinner, O'Rielly said he was "more than disturbed" with the ruling and though there's logic to setting quality and speed goals, favoring particular technologies "does not comply with our obligation to serve as many of the unserved as possible within our budget," according to the released text. He previously raised the idea of reconsideration at the FCC's February vote. At the SIA event, O'Rielly also criticized some spectrum frontiers decisions, calling them "best guesses ... destined to be raised on reconsideration." He said the earth station siting requirements in the 28 and 39 GHz bands didn't make sense. O'Rielly also was critical of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) decision to block study of the 28 GHz band, saying "we should consider as many bands as possible for potential commercial wireless and satellite use, with the understanding that some bands may not be suitable for sharing." Pointing to WRC-19 agenda items 1.13 about terrestrial use and 1.6 about regulatory frameworks for non-geostationary satellite systems in the same frequency band, O'Rielly said, "I am sure there are heated debates to come, but studies need to be encouraged, not stymied, to inform how spectrum can be shared and to help regulators -- both here and abroad -- adopt sound spectrum policy."
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he would back reconsideration of the FCC's Connect America Fund Phase II bid weights decision (see 1702230019) since it "seem[ed] to intentionally favor fiber over wireless and satellite" in setting the weights for determining winning bids. At Monday's Satellite Industry Association (SIA) dinner, O'Rielly said he was "more than disturbed" with the ruling and though there's logic to setting quality and speed goals, favoring particular technologies "does not comply with our obligation to serve as many of the unserved as possible within our budget," according to the released text. He previously raised the idea of reconsideration at the FCC's February vote. At the SIA event, O'Rielly also criticized some spectrum frontiers decisions, calling them "best guesses ... destined to be raised on reconsideration." He said the earth station siting requirements in the 28 and 39 GHz bands didn't make sense. O'Rielly also was critical of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) decision to block study of the 28 GHz band, saying "we should consider as many bands as possible for potential commercial wireless and satellite use, with the understanding that some bands may not be suitable for sharing." Pointing to WRC-19 agenda items 1.13 about terrestrial use and 1.6 about regulatory frameworks for non-geostationary satellite systems in the same frequency band, O'Rielly said, "I am sure there are heated debates to come, but studies need to be encouraged, not stymied, to inform how spectrum can be shared and to help regulators -- both here and abroad -- adopt sound spectrum policy."
Trade groups called for simplification of the tariff schedule and alignment of free trade agreements, in recent comments to the International Trade Commission. The complicated provisions of Chapter 64 create perverse incentives for shoe designers, the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) said. Misaligned free trade agreements cause importers not to use trade programs, the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) said. And differences between how countries classify semiconductors creates a compliance burden for semiconductor importers, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said. The comments were submitted for an annual ITC report on import restraints (see 1610120051).
Any move to give co-primary regulatory status to federal government earth stations communicating with commercial satellites should make clear they're subject to the same procedural, coordination and technical rules as commercial licensees, the Satellite Industry Association said in a series of meetings with FCC eighth-floor staffers. In ex parte filings posted Tuesday in docket 13-115, SIA recapped meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn (see here, here and here) at which it said any action on NTIA's urging the FCC move on its 2013 space policy rulemaking (see 1610040019) needs to include language in the U.S. table of frequency allocations stating primary federal allocations for fixed satellite service is for earth stations only. SIA said the FCC should make clear it has exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over the co-primary allocations and that shared NTIA jurisdiction doesn't apply to processing of earth station applications. EchoStar also urged federal earth station operations be subject to the same requirements as commercial earth stations and that the FCC reject NTIA-proposed exemptions (see 1610140055). Representatives from SIA, SpaceX, O3b, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and EchoStar attended the meetings.
Aerospace joined the Satellite Industry Association as an affiliate member, SIA said in a news release Monday. The trade group launched its affiliate membership category in 2015, aimed at companies and groups previously not eligible for membership.