Each party to a conflict involving a raw Argentinian honey antidumping duty investigation on Dec. 22 accused the opposing side of misunderstanding the case before the court (Nexco v. United States, CIT # 22-00203).

The Court of International Trade need not be bound by the a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling that said Section 232 duties are "United States import duties" that can be deducted from U.S. price, exporter Nippon Steel Corp. argued in a Dec. 22 reply brief (Nippon Steel Corp. v. United States, CIT # 21-00533).

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment against plaintiff-appellants Regie Salgado and Melinda Zambrano, two former employees of TruConnect Communications who alleged that the cellphone network operator fired them in retaliation for raising claims that the company engaged in schemes to defraud the FCC’s Lifeline program, said the 9th Circuit’s memorandum Friday (docket 22-55721).

The commercial space community is divided over an FAA proposal that upper-stage commercial rocket bodies and other components exit orbit within 25 years of launch. Comments are due Tuesday on an FAA draft NPRM (see 2309290057). Some in the commercial space sector argue the proposed 25-year limit will be ineffective; others say the FAA lacks the regulatory authority to oversee orbital debris issues.

CTIA representatives questioned proposals in a June NPRM that address FCC rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 2306080043). “Instead of directing its limited resources toward attempts to amend the decades-old and demonstrably pro-consumer Exception, the Commission should continue to focus on bad actors who use robocalls and robotexts to spam and scam consumers,” CTIA said: “The market for wireless services is highly competitive, and service providers are highly incentivized to send the appropriate number and type of messages that consumers want and expect.” Representatives of CTIA and the major carriers met with staff from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, according to a filing posted Friday in docket 02-278.

The FCC’s controversial data breach notification rules included several changes from the draft. The rules were adopted at the December open meeting over Commissioners Brendan Carr's and Nathan Simington's dissents (see 2312130019). Republican lawmakers are weighing a response to the rules, which they see as sidestepping a 2017 Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that rescinded similar regulations as part of the commission's 2016 ISP privacy order (see 2312200001). The order was posted in Friday’s Daily Digest.

U.S. Steel Corp. and Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., which recently agreed to a merger, plan to ask the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review their proposed deal, U.S. Steel said on Dec. 21.

The government's claim that a group of Canadian softwood lumber exporters shouldn't be able to intervene in an antidumping duty case is based on "an unreasonably narrow, absurd, and constitutionally problematic reading of" the statute on parties entitled to participate in civil actions, the exporters argued (Government of Canada v. United States, CIT Consol. # 23-00187).

Lead Republican lawmakers’ recent charge that the FCC was “deeply misleading” about the affordable connectivity program’s efficacy (see 2312150068) has solidified perceptions on and off Capitol Hill that it will be extremely difficult to reach a deal allocating additional money before the initiative's funding runs out next year, lobbyists and observers told us. Estimates peg ACP as likely to exhaust its initial $14.2 billion tranche from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act during the first half of 2024 (see 2309210060). The White House is pushing for Congress to appropriate an additional $6 billion to fully fund the program through the end of 2024 (see 2310250075).

At least seven Democratic and Republican lawmakers are urging the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to oppose or scrutinize the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel Corp by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp., saying the $14.9 billion deal raises serious economic and national security concerns.