Customs Duty

TechFreedom hires as its first free speech counsel Ari Cohn, who has had his own law practice and previously worked at Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's Individual Rights Defense Program ... Zayo leadership appointments include Mike Mooney as chief legal officer; he has been general counsel and was lead attorney during Zayo's $14.3 billion going private transaction (for more personnel news at the company, see this section next week).

Noting the high use of texting by populations particularly at risk to suicide, such as kids and minorities, the four FCC members on Thursday approved a Further NPRM on a mandate that carriers provide capabilities to text the 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (see 2103310030). Also getting unanimous approvals at the commissioners' meeting were an order allocating spectrum for commercial space launches and an NPRM on setting a framework for informing 911 centers of network outages affecting them, as well as an NPRM on wireless mics in the TV and other bands and an order ending the 800 MHz rebranding process (see 2104220056). Commissioners also OK'd a $4.1 million slamming fine.

Best Buy Purchasing and Best Buy Health “have been adversely affected” by the Section 301 List 3 tariffs on Chinese imports, argued the subsidiaries Monday in a complaint (in Pacer) at the U.S. Court of International Trade. It was among the roughly 3,300 suits filed at the CIT since Thursday to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs, including 700 on Monday, the last filing day for importers to qualify for refunds if the actions are successful. There was some debate Tuesday whether the Monday deadline could be open to interpretation.

More than a dozen classifications of tech goods from China eligible for "preferential" tariff treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade remain subject to applicable Trade Act Section 301 tariffs, Customs and Border Protection ruled. It's dated last Friday and was released by CBP this week. "The country of origin of the subject goods for purposes of Section 301 is China and therefore, subject to the Section 301 duties," said CBP. The goods include hard drives, modems, switchers, routers and power supplies.

A Customs and Border Protection "administrative ruling" clarifies "duty-free exemption status of low-value shipments sent to U.S. fulfillment centers and domestic warehouses,” said the agency Monday. “The ruling is intended to enhance accountability in the e-commerce environment while strengthening CBP’s ability to identify counterfeit goods, consumer safety violations, and other threats.” The “exponential growth” of e-commerce gave “illicit sellers” the “extraordinary opportunity to evade duties and sell unsafe and unregulated products,” said CBP. It won't “sit idly by and allow these bad actors to evade duties, report false values, and harm American businesses and consumers.”

Seeing it could get a bigger incentive payment for C-band accelerated clearing than SES, Intelsat ditched its obligations as a C-Band Alliance member, leaving fellow CBAer SES with $1.8 billion in potential damages, SES said in a claim Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond. That's according to a summary of the document that wasn't public.

Frontier Communications’ reorganization is facing state scrutiny where the carrier sought speedy reviews. Some commissions seek more information in their proceedings and at U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Unions and consumers groups are prodding states to look closely. “States are collectively bringing forward the perspective of the average ratepayer,” which can get lost in bankruptcy court, said Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Chair Marissa Gillett in an interview.

The Trump administration’s 90-day “limited duty deferral” for importers is “welcome news to retailers,” said National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay Monday. Many importers are getting “diminished or no revenue” during the pandemic “while still incurring costs, including the duties, taxes, and fees associated with imported merchandise for their clients and supply chains,” said Customs and Border Protection Sunday. “Aggravating matters, many major retail chains” are closing their stores voluntarily or to comply with mandated shutdowns, it said. The 90-day deferral “provides some retailers with additional liquidity and better cash flow, giving hope for business continuity and a faster recovery once the pandemic has passed,” he said. The deferral doesn’t apply to the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, which remain in effect. “We encourage the administration to broaden these deferrals for additional relief,” said Shay. The Information Technology Industry Council welcomes the administration's "action to alleviate tariff burdens," said CEO Jason Oxman Monday. "We urge more expansive action for the more than $370 billion of goods subject to Section 301 tariffs," he said: "Deferring payment on these tariffs would provide much-needed flexibility and facilitate the delivery of assets to U.S. healthcare providers, companies, and consumers” amid COVID-19.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order to OK with conditions Ligado’s application for a low-power terrestrial nationwide broadband network, the agency confirmed Thursday morning in a long-anticipated move. The L-band operations could support 5G and the IoT, the regulator said. “This draft order would both promote more efficient and effective use of our nation’s spectrum resources and ensure that adjacent band operations," including GPS, "are protected from harmful interference,” it added.

The FCC handed down proposed fines Friday against the four national carriers for failing to safeguard data on their customers' real-time locations (see 2002270063). T-Mobile faces the biggest at more than $91 million, followed by AT&T, $57 million; Verizon, $48 million; and Sprint, $12 million. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced during the news conference after the commissioners’ meeting that the notices of apparent liability had been approved and would be issued shortly (see 2002280040). Three commissioners raised questions about the FCC approach, including in media Q&A with us.