Circuit City has hired McKinsey & Co. to help “rethink major aspects” of its store operations and will test new services and layouts at 20 stores in the Boston and Miami areas starting in Oct.
The Journal of Commerce reports that the ports of Miami and Everglades are closed to vessel traffic as South Florida braces for Tropical Storm Rita to regain hurricane strength. The article notes that many flights have been cancelled at Miami International Airport. (JoC Online, dated 09/20/05, www.joc.com.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a revised version of its automation requirements for its voluntary test of the submission of electronic Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) admission applications, including record layouts, mandatory fields, error messages, and other programming details.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and/or the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) are expected to soon issue notices announcing the October 1, 2005 - September 30, 2006 Tariff Preference Levels (TPLs) for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), and the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site notice that the fiscal year (FY) 2006 global refined and specialty sugar "low duty" tariff rate quota (TRQ) provided for in HTS Chapter 17, Additional U.S. Note (AUSN) 5, did not fill at opening moment on September 8, 2005. (This quota would normally have opened on October 1, 2005, but opened early due to supply shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a second revised version of its trade update regarding Hurricane Katrina.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a notice announcing that the next meeting of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Functions (COAC) will be held on October 6, 2005 in Redondo Beach, CA. (This committee was previously called the 'Treasury Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the U.S. Customs Service.")
No matter how technology improves, govt. agencies will compromise individual privacy unless they have clear data use policies, lines of authority and accountability, speakers told a Homeland Security Dept. (DHS) privacy workshop. Regarding individual data, agencies must “take a step back and bring some discipline back in,” DHS Metadata Program Mgr. Michael Daconta said. Consistent rules and standards are sorely lacking in and among agencies, and DHS especially needs “a set of privacy decision trees” to ensure the buck stops somewhere, he said.
With data-breach scandals fading in public memory, data brokers and federal officials Thurs. came to the defense of the industry as crucial for investigations and massive efforts such as Hurricane Katrina relief. They spoke on the first day of 2 of a workshop by the Dept. of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Privacy Office. Civil liberties groups and technology experts countered their arguments, ranging from skepticism of the usefulness of young data- mining technologies to criticisms of federal agencies’ implementations of decades-old Privacy Act provisions in contracting with data brokers.
The National Assn. of Realtors (NAR) was slapped with a Justice Dept. antitrust suit alleging its policies bar online brokers from offering better services and lower costs to consumers. The complaint was filed in U.S. Dist. Court, Chicago, after 2 years of negotiations over a digital divide between old-school real estate agents and colleagues who embrace the Internet. Simultaneously, NAR unveiled a revised policy that “continues to discriminate against innovative brokers and does not resolve the department’s concerns,” the govt. said. “The purchase of a home is one of the most significant financial decisions a family can make, and NAR’s policy stifles competition to advantage some of its members at the expense of home buyers and sellers across the country,” said Assistant Attorney Gen. Bruce McDonald: “Consumers benefit when real estate brokers are free to compete vigorously by offering innovative services.” In most markets, brokers share listings via the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) -- a joint venture among competing brokers, Justice said. Using a local MLS lets a broker show clients all properties for sale in a community. Lately, to make buying and selling property more efficient, some brokers have begun giving customers password-protected access to MLS databases. But, Justice said in its suit, NAR throttles competition by requiring NAR-affiliated MLS listers to let brokers withhold listings from other brokers’ sites via an “opt out.” This enables more traditionally minded brokers to block competitors’ customers from seeing all MLS listings, officials said. Justice wants to ensure NAR policy doesn’t let old-school agents deprive consumers of benefits that would flow from technology-aided competition. NAR said its policy is “fair, pro-consumer, pro-competitive and accommodates innovation.” After months of negotiations with Justice, the group said it, can’t understand why Justice still filed suit. Changes incorporated into the revised policy respond directly to concerns the govt. raised, the group said. NAR called its revised policy a win-win for buyers and sellers. The court will determine a pretrial schedule once NAR files a response to the govt. suit, Justice said. The NetChoice Coalition, which includes trade groups, e- commerce firms and consumers, applauded DoJ’s suit against NAR. “This is a case of the big brokers using their state licensing leverage to restrict the competition, innovation, and discounting made possible by the Internet and new technologies,” Exec. Dir. Steve DelBianco said.