EU’s general data protection regulation may have unintended competition consequences, DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim said Thursday, citing chilling U.S. industry response. Because of GDPR, countries are requiring websites disclose use of cookies and “require global licensing of U.S. patents as a remedy,” he said. The latter could disincentivize investment and innovation, he said: “When a foreign enforcer imposes such a remedy globally, it takes away the Antitrust Division’s ability to reach a different conclusion and risks harming American consumers.” The division is reviewing its international competition guidelines, he told a Fordham conference, per prepared remarks. He said the division will ensure the guidelines “accurately reflect the latest guidance from our Supreme Court and lower courts … adequately reflect the importance of comity to our relationships with international competition enforcers” and “adequately convey the symmetry that we expect from our international counterparts.”

More than 5,000 companies are “actively certified” under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced Wednesday. The White House also announced that the program's annual review will start this week with EU officials visiting Washington.

The Chinese government “firmly” opposes the U.S. using “its national power to oppress” Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei “based on no evidence at all,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a Wednesday news conference. Huawei has been countering arguments it poses a threat to the security of the U.S.'s telecom infrastructure, in recent days claiming U.S. officials attempted to recruit its employees to provide internal information about the company. U.S. lawmakers are also eyeing legislation to prevent President Donald Trump's administration from lifting Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security restrictions on Huawei (see 1907220053). “Such an act is disgraceful and immoral, and it runs counter to the principle of market economy, for which the [U.S.] has been a self-claimed champion,” Geng said, according to a transcript from China's U.S. embassy. “We urge the [U.S.] to stop abusing the concept of national security, to cease its smear campaign against China and oppression against Chinese companies, and to provide a level playing field and a non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies to operate normally” in the U.S.

The FTC announced settlements with five companies Tuesday over allegations they falsely claimed EU-U.S. Privacy Shield certification. The agency had non-monetary settlements with software company DCR Workforce; cloud-based file transfer software company Thru; mobile data analysis company LotaData; facial recognition software company 214 Technologies; and statistical analysis company EmpiriStat. 214 Technologies, Thru, LotaData and DCR Workforce claimed certification but failed to complete their applications, the FTC said, and alleged EmpiriStat allowed certification to lapse in 2018.

The State Department removed certain “lower performing radars” from the U.S. munitions list, effective Friday, said that day's Federal Register. The radars are used in self-driving cars and in “detect and avoid systems for autonomous aerial systems,” it said. The radars and radar components will now be subject to the export administration regulations.

Despite President Donald Trump’s remarks earlier this month that he delayed the List 4B tariffs on Chinese goods to Dec. 15 so that they wouldn’t hurt consumers (see 1908130004), “a large portion of holiday merchandise will still be hit by September and October tariff increases at an even higher rate than was initially anticipated,” the Americans for Free Trade Coalition wrote the president Wednesday. The coalition urged Trump to delay putting the 15 percent List 4A tariffs into effect Sunday and avoid hiking the previous three rounds of tariffs by 5 percentage points on Oct. 1. “With some products facing tariffs as high as 30 percent, many businesses will have no choice but to pass along those costs to consumers,” said the multi-industry coalition of dozens of trade groups. They include BSA|The Software Alliance, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, CTA, Information Technology Industry Council, Internet Association, Software & Information Industry Association and TechNet. “Because these tariffs were announced with little warning, it is impossible for U.S. importers to share the burden with supply chain partners in China or shift their production to other countries. The full adverse impact of these tariff increases will be felt entirely in the United States and could represent one of the largest tax increases in American history.”

Samsung Q2 global smartphone sales rose 17 percent to 75.1 million units due to the Galaxy A series, Gartner reported Tuesday. It was 20.4 percent of the industry, which itself fell 1.7 percent to 367.9 million. “Demand for high-end smartphones has slowed at a greater rate than demand for midrange and low-end smartphones,” said analyst Anshul Gupta. IPhones sales fell 14 percent to 38.5 million. Services were 21 percent of Apple Q1 total revenue. Among the top five countries in smartphones sales, China held the top position with 101 million in Q2, up 0.5 percent. Global smartphone 2019 sales are forecast to fall 2.5 percent to 1.5 billion, falling 4.4 percent in North America to around 167 million.

President Emmanuel Macron said that the U.S. and France agreed to work together to reach an agreement in 2020 on modernizing the international tax rules. Macron told reporters Monday his nation's 3 percent digital services tax isn't designed to punish large companies. Rather, he said, "it's to fix the problem. And there are also plenty of French companies that will be touched." The U.S. is treating the tax as thinly disguised protectionism, and has opened an investigation (see 1908190043). Macron said that the French tax will be in place until an international pact. He said that if collections under the tax are higher than are eventually agreed to, the excess will be refunded. Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a statement said the "Trump administration should reject any deal that allows France and other countries to move ahead with discriminatory taxes on U.S. technology companies, in exchange for vague promises." President Donald Trump, also at the G-7 conference, didn't provide more specifics, and the French Embassy in Washington had no further comment.

CTIA CEO Meredith Baker noted the FCC and State Department convinced the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) last week to support the U.S. position on emissions limits on the 24 GHz band at the upcoming 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference. These protection limits could safeguard passive sensors on science satellites and maximize 5G use of the 24 GHz band (see 1907030063). Lawmakers worry infighting between the FCC and Commerce Department could undermine the U.S. WRC negotiating position (see 1907180044). At least 16 CITEL-member nations now support the position, Baker wrote Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Monday: “Pursuit of an aggressive but balanced spectrum policy is critical.”

A Huawai executive said the effect of U.S. trade sanctions on its business will likely be less than what it initially feared. Huawei said in June the blacklisting would hit revenue by $30 billion, with no topline growth in 2019 (see 1906190018). “It seems it is going to be a little less than that. But you have to wait till our results in March,” Deputy Chairman Eric Xu said, Reuters reported. Huawei announced Friday what it bills as the world's “most powerful AI processor,” the Ascend 910, and an all-scenario artificial intelligence computing framework, MindSpore. “We have been making steady progress since we announced our AI strategy in October last year,” Xu said Friday. “Everything is moving forward according to plan.”