The Information Technology Industry Council supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it said in a policy position statement released Monday. ITI called the trade agreement a "vital tool to promote durable growth and innovation" and to expand the "social and economic benefits" of the digital economy, and lauded provisions in the deal on cross-border data flows, information and communications technology market access, strong and balanced intellectual property rules and regulatory transparency. "After reviewing the agreement, we have decided to support the TPP, because it offers tremendous growth and innovation opportunities for the technology sector and our economy," ITI CEO Dean Garfield said. TPP "will promote an open, pro-innovation environment for the digital economy globally" and is a "strong rebuke against digital protectionism," ITI said.

The International Chamber of Commerce is urging World Trade Organization members meeting this week at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi to conclude an information technology tariff elimination agreement, which ICC said in a news release Tuesday could inject up to $190 billion into the global economy. The tariff elimination deal would be the first completed in nearly 20 years. ICC wants expanded product coverage under the WTO Information Technology Agreement 2, and continued absence of customs duties on e-commerce. "Despite standstills in negotiations technology and high-tech, products have continued to develop at a rapid pace, along with the business and organizational models that rely on them to thrive,” said ICC Secretary General John Danilovich. “The WTO ministerial is a real opportunity to make progress on this element of the global trade agenda that would reap the benefits of the digital economy and create significant boosts to international trade."

Data collection requirements for importers of FCC-regulated goods are unclear for June-December next year, Intel told members of the commission's Office of Engineering and Technology in a Thursday meeting, the company said in a filing posted the next day in docket 15-170. The FCC recently said it plans to waive its Form 740 certification requirements for RF devices imported between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2016 (see 1510190056). Intel "recommended that the FCC not require collection or reporting of the information contained in Form 740 either during or after this period" and should rely on existing Customs and Border Protection processes for the data collection. The company "stressed importers should have the flexibility to manage their own records and develop internal controls for monitoring noncompliant devices." Industry responses on doing away with Form 740 were largely positive, though Boeing noted it considers the government collections of the information to be a useful compliance tool (see 1510140028). The company also supported FCC-proposed changes to rules for approval and certification of RF devices (see 1412310022). Intel recommended the FCC continue work to accommodate new technologies and "define conditions and certification methods to allow approved modular radios to be used irrespective of the end host," which would benefit the IoT industry.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted an International Trade Commission motion for a 30-day extension for filing petitions for rehearing or rehearing en banc (see 1512090014) in the ITC case against corrective orthodontic device manufacturer ClearCorrect. The Federal Circuit approved ITC's motion Thursday, effectively moving the filing deadline for rehearing petitions from Dec. 28 to Jan. 27. ITC's motion said ClearCorrect and intervenor Align Technology didn't oppose the extension request.

The International Trade Commission asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to grant a 30-day extension for the filing of petitions for rehearing or rehearing en banc its case against corrective orthodontic device manufacturer ClearCorrect. The agency submitted a motion for a deadline extension Tuesday, citing its counsel's conflicts of time and preparation for other arguments as reasons for the request. The case concerns the appeal by ClearCorrect of an ITC ruling that its U.S. facilities could no longer receive transmissions of digital molds of patients' teeth -- allegedly infringing on patents from industry competitor Align Technology -- from the company's affiliate in Pakistan. Last month, the Federal Circuit entered a 2-1 decision in favor of ClearCorrect (see 1511100047), overturning ITC's previous ruling that it has the jurisdiction to block international transmissions of digital information. The agency is "in the process of considering whether to seek rehearing in this appeal" and "good cause exists for the requested extension," said ITC Counsel Sidney Rosenzweig in the motion. Rosenzweig also cited a "nonrefundable vacation" in mid-December and the planned absences of his supervisor and others at the commission during the holiday season as reasons the ITC seeks a new filing deadline. ClearCorrect and intervenor Align Technology indicated they don't oppose the motion for a deadline extension, said Rosenzweig. ClearCorrect General Counsel Michael Myers told us last month he "wouldn't be surprised" if the case is heard en banc. The current deadline for filing a rehearing petition is Dec. 28 but would be moved to Jan. 27 if ITC's motion for extension is granted.

Qualcomm received “courtesy copies” of two statements of objections from the European Commission “relating to separate matters involving Qualcomm’s chipset business,” the company said. They give Qualcomm up to four months to respond to the preliminary allegations. Qualcomm has been cooperating with the EC “since the outset of these matters,” it said Tuesday. “We look forward to demonstrating that competition in the sale of wireless chips has been and remains strong and dynamic, and that Qualcomm’s sales practices have always complied with European competition law.” The EC informed Qualcomm “of its preliminary conclusions that the company may have illegally paid a major customer for exclusively using its chipsets and sold chipsets below cost with the aim of forcing a competitor,” Icera, “out of the market" in “potential breach” of antitrust rules, the commission said in a news release. Under the rules, “dominant companies have a responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position by restricting competition,” it said.

AT&T supported removing Cuba from the FCC's exclusion list for international Section 214 authorizations and urged the additional removal of the agency's nondiscrimination requirements that apply to the route between the U.S. and Cuba. The declaration came in a comment filed with the commission and posted in docket 15-289 Monday. Section 214 governs provision of telecommunications between countries. The filing, submitted by AT&T Services, is in response to an FCC notice seeking comment on removing Cuba from the exclusion list, which reflects a request from the State Department to look into the matter (see 1511240066). AT&T is one of two companies to submit by the Dec. 4 deadline comments in response to the public notice posted by the FCC. "AT&T supports this [commission] proposal, and encourages a rapid implementation," it said in its filing. Removing Cuba from the exclusion list would "help foster competition for bilateral communications between the United States and Cuba, and thus increase the flow of information to and from the Cuban people," AT&T said. The company also said it hopes the FCC will "soon take the additional step to modify the licensing of telecommunications services between the United States and Cuba" to remove nondiscrimination requirements on the U.S.-Cuba route. This additional modification to licensing rules would extend the same regulatory treatment that currently applies to all other international routes, AT&T said. Connected healthcare device developer Medtronic also supported the public notice, in a comment to the FCC. Many medical devices rely on communications capabilities and allow physicians to download data from implanted devices to monitor aspects of a patient's health, the group said. "By making it easier for U.S. carriers to provide facilities-based telecommunications services from the [U.S.] to Cuba, the [FCC] will be taking yet another step to global implementation of medical technology that relies on communications to leverage the capabilities of physicians and to enhance the lives of patients," Medtronic said. Reply comments are due Dec. 9.

The FCC hit PTT Phone Cards with a $493,327 penalty for violating international telecom provider duties for more than three years. Among the violations, PTT "failed to register as a provider, file required reports, and make required contributions to public service programs," said the commission order released Monday and included in Tuesday's Daily Digest. It said PTT had argued that the penalty the agency proposed in a notice of apparent liability should be reduced or canceled because of the company's size, ability to pay, and what it said were "good faith efforts to comply with or aid the investigation." But the FCC found no basis to cancel, withdraw or reduce the proposed penalty. The agency order was approved 5-0, though Commissioner Mike O'Rielly questioned the commission's "perfunctory application of gross revenues as the basis for the forfeiture."

There's an imbalance of power between companies such as Facebook and Google that are amassing vast amounts of information about online users, and individuals who have few opportunities to "exercise their fundamental right to privacy," said the English-language version of a report released Friday by Datatilsynet, Norway's data protection authority. "The information asymmetry that characterises the market is a form of market failure," it said. "When consumers have no knowledge about what is going on, they cannot demand services that offer better privacy. The uneven distribution of information results in a competitive situation, which encourages the market players to use methods increasingly invasive of privacy." The DPA said individuals don't just deal with a company that owns a website they visit, but also "ad exchanges, demand side and supply side platforms, ad networks, data brokers and data management platforms." Datatilsynet said it's working to increase transparency in the ad market and recommended website publishers provide information about third parties that collect user data such as type and usage, giving individuals the option to provide "active consent" to companies collecting their data, and improving privacy policies so they are easy to understand.

The EU needs to consolidate and manage spectrum through a single entity with the aim of "harmonizing band allocations, service rules, and regulations as much as possible" if it hopes to create a seamless mobile market in its transition to a digital single market (see 1505060038), said an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report Monday. “Despite being a world leader in mobile communications in the 3G era, Europe has since lagged the United States in deploying high-speed, data-intensive LTE technology," said ITIF President Robert Atkinson in a news release. "To recapture lost economic ground, Europe needs a bold new approach that vests significantly more control over spectrum policy in the European Commission." The EU's "28 different sets of regulations and 28 separate spectrum markets is fragmentation in the extreme," said ITIF telecom policy analyst Doug Brake, the report's author, in the release. He said the EU should look to the U.S., where states are precluded from developing wireless policy, because a single mobile market will be a "boon" to consumers and businesses in the 5G era. Other ITIF report recommendations include: permitting more consolidation in the mobile industry, or competition among four to six major firms to gain economies of scale; reallocating spectrum for mobile broadband use; encouraging the use of tradeable technology-neutral and flexible licenses "to allow room for change"; and adopting a neutral spectrum policy rather than "market shaping" to drive more innovation, capital investment and cost benefits.