The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin a Section 301 investigation of France’s new digital services tax, which just passed the French parliament, USTR said: The 3 percent tax’s structure “as well as statements by officials suggest that France is unfairly targeting the tax at certain U.S.-based technology companies." A Federal Register notice will follow with instructions on how to comment on or testify, USTR said Wednesday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., praised the investigation’s launch. “The United States would not need to pursue this path if other countries would abandon these unilateral actions and focus their energies on the multilateral process that is underway at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,” they said. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Information Technology Industry Council and Computer and Communications Industry Association welcomed the investigation, in statements through Thursday. French President Emmanuel Macron hadn't yet signed the bill, also passed Thursday.

The Commerce Department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, Commerce undersecretary-industry and security. Nikakhtar, speaking Tuesday at Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security’s annual export controls conference, briefly discussed Huawei after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the conference Huawei won't be removed from BIS’ entity list, confirming July 3 comments from a spokesperson (see 1907050003). Commerce is planning to roll back some restrictions on export licenses to Huawei and evaluate applications based on their U.S. national security impacts. White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said at a Tuesday CNBC event that some Huawei “general merchandise” sales will be permitted. Commerce’s altered approach came from recent feedback from U.S. companies, said Nikakhtar. “We’re moving forward cautiously by recognizing that the right approach is one that allows U.S. businesses to grow while we don’t stifle innovation but importantly while we also protect national security,” she said. President Donald Trump initially made the announcement at the G-20 Summit in Japan, saying the U.S. and China had agreed to resume trade talks (see 1907020060). Nikakhtar said BIS “recognizes the impact our entity listing has on U.S. exporters” and urged companies to make use of the 90-day temporary general license the agency issued in May. She said BIS hopes U.S. industries “consider shifting towards other sources of equipment, software and technology.” Huawei’s inclusion on the entity list “was not taken lightly,” Nikakhtar said. “We should not, nor should we ever, fail to take action because of a company's size or our dependence on export sales.”

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson were among 41 business leaders at a Monday dinner that President Donald Trump held at the White House for Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his delegation, the White House press pool said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow also attended.

The Commerce Department will continue its presumption of denial policy for license applications for exports to Huawei, a Commerce spokesperson said, saying the Chinese company remains on Commerce’s entity list. The department will review export license applications for “their national security impacts” and plans to review licenses “under the highest national security scrutiny,” the spokesperson said. At the G-20 Summit in Japan, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. will loosen restrictions on exports to Huawei and allow U.S. companies to “sell their equipment” as long as “there’s no great national emergency problem.” National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said June 30 the U.S. will grant license applications for products that China can easily get elsewhere. There has been uncertainty about which specific products will get export licenses and when the changes will take effect (see 1907020017). “The Department intends to notify companies of decisions on export license applications once the review is complete,” the Commerce spokesperson emailed Wednesday.

Attendees at FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 used contactless payment technology for 51 percent of purchases, via smartphones, contactless cards, payment-enabled wristbands and wearables, said Visa Wednesday. The match between U.S. and Chile in Parc de Princes, Paris, had the highest amount spent in-stadium in a single match, accounting for about 14 percent of the total spend to date, it said.

With President Donald Trump’s announcement that U.S. companies will be allowed to sell to Huawei (see 1907010070 or 1907010015), it remains unclear how and if the Commerce Department will amend its May notice that added Huawei to the agency’s entity list and banned all exports of items subject to the export administration regulations with a review policy of presumption of denial. “That does not appear to be decided yet,” said William Reinsch of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Commerce’s former undersecretary for export administration. Reinsch expects Commerce to keep its “presumption of denial” policy “but manage it by adding and subtracting to the” temporary general license. The temporary general license will likely be extended past the original 90-days and be expanded to cover more items, Reinsch said. “The debate will be about what items will be covered,” Reinsch emailed. “Everything else will be subject to a presumption of denial, which means you can apply but don’t hold your breath waiting for a ‘yes.’” Alternatively, Commerce could change its review policy to a case-by-case basis, Reinsch said, noting it’s more likely the agency simply expands its temporary general license. “I think it’s easier for them administratively,” Reinsch said. “If they change it, it would require another” Federal Register notice. Semiconductor Industry Association President John Neuffer called the announcement “good news for the semiconductor industry, the overall tech sector, and the world’s two largest economies.” Commerce plans to grant export licenses for products that China can easily get from other countries, including “various chips and software,” said National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow Sunday on CBS and Fox News. “Anything to do with national security concerns will not receive a new license from the Commerce Department,” Kudlow said on CBS. A U.S.-China Business Council spokesperson said the specifics of the announcement were unclear but the move likely will provide relief for U.S. exporters. The net effect and next steps in Congress are difficult to predict (see 1907020060).

NSA improperly collected Americans’ call records in October, four months after it reported fixing underlying problems that caused earlier failures, said the American Civil Liberties Union Wednesday, citing documents it got under the Freedom of Information Act. ACLU asked House Judiciary Committee leaders to end such call detail record authority under Patriot Act Section 215. "These documents provide further evidence that the NSA has consistently been unable to operate the call detail record program within the bounds of the law," the group wrote, asking to "end the flawed Section 215 call detail record authority." Lawmakers will consider whether to renew year-end expiring parts of the law (see 1905060048). "Technical irregularities that led NSA to delete data last summer were identified and addressed," a spokesperson emailed us. "Since that time, NSA identified additional data integrity and compliance concerns caused by the unique complexities of using company-generated business records for intelligence purposes. Those data integrity and compliance concerns have also been addressed and reported to NSA’s overseers, including the congressional oversight committees and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court." The status of the program “is a deliberative interagency process that will be decided by the Administration" (see 1904240068), the representative said.

The U.S. should seek agreement with the EU on law enforcement access to data stored overseas, BSA|The Software Alliance and other industry organizations said Friday in a letter to Attorney General William Barr. The 2018 Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (Cloud) Act was a "critical first step" in modernizing the U.S. approach to challenges of law enforcement access to digital evidence, and there's now a "golden opportunity" to realize its potential as the EU Council authorized the European Commission to enter talks with the U.S., they said: "We urge you to explore this opportunity." They said an EU-wide pact with the U.S. could resolve potential conflicts of law that threaten American businesses in key markets and boost cooperation between U.S. law enforcement and their European counterparts. The agreement could also define processes for committing to privacy, civil liberties and human rights protections. Other signers include the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Information Technology Industry Council, Internet Association and Telecommunications Industry Association.

South Korea "is the first country to deploy proper 5G where you can really have it in many places,” unlike the U.S., where it’s still “very spotty,” said Greg Kustudia, Opensignal vice president-sales, Americas. Company research found 5G download speeds in Korea averaging 111.8 Mbps, 48 percent faster than users get with comparable 4G flagship phones and 134 percent faster than other 4G phones, blogged Ian Fogg, vice president-analysis. In the U.S., 5G peak downloads reached 1.2 Gbps, Fogg said Thursday, based on measurements from Verizon's network. The max in South Korea was 988 Mbps, 8.8 times as fast as user’s average real-world speeds of 111.8 Mbps. The U.S. has top speeds now because carriers here are using mmWave spectrum vs. the mid-band spectrum Korea uses, meaning Korea has a broader signal range but lower speeds, Fogg emailed us Friday. As vendors fix 5G “teething issues” and refine solutions, peak and average speeds will improve, he said. Some bands aren’t available in certain markets yet -- 3.5 GHz in the U.S. and mmWave in Europe, for example -- but “they will be over the next couple of years and learnings from other countries will help carriers improve these later 5G rollouts,” he said. The video experience promised for fifth-generation phones will be particularly important to measure for customers, a spokesperson said: “Is it buffering, what kind of video experience are you actually getting?” The company's app tries to turn “speeds and feeds” in the mobile “arms race” into metrics that nontechnical people can easily understand, said James Hayman, assistant vice president sales-North America. Opensignal used Pepcom's Digital Experience technology showcase in New York Thursday to demonstrate its mobile "analytics" app and to set expectations about 5G networks. Also last week, Sprint unveiled its third 5G phone (see 1906210062).

France's digital services tax proposal disproportionately targets U.S. companies for additional taxation, Computer & Communications Industry Association Chief Operating Officer Matt Schruers said Thursday. He commended Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Calif., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., for urging “prompt and targeted action” against France’s tax. The tax “appears to violate current trade commitments and would serve as a tariff on internet exporters,” Schruers said.