On March 1, 2011, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted to its website the President’s 2011 Trade Policy Agenda and 2010 Annual Report, which contains information on his trade priorities, including exports, free trade agreements, trade preferences, intellectual property rights, and enforcement.

The International Trade Commission announces that a section 337 patent-based complaint has been filed regarding certain glassware.

The working group that’s required as a condition of a waiver by the FCC International Bureau of mobile satellite service rules for LightSquared doesn’t fall under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the International Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) said Friday. The working group is required to take up interference concerns about LightSquared’s coming service raised by the GPS industry and others (CD Jan 27 p1). The GPS Industry Council recently filed an emergency clarification request (CD Feb 17 p8) asking the FCC whether the group is covered by the act. It said some federal agencies may not participate, because of confusion over the matter. Rules under the act require working groups created by federal agencies to publish Federal Register notices of meetings, allow those interested to attend, and make information about the meetings public. The bureau and the OET said they were advised by the Office of General Counsel that the group doesn’t come under the law’s requirements, because the FCC won’t choose the members and the group isn’t asked to provide a consensus. The waiver order urges participation from the GPS industry and federal interests, but LightSquared isn’t required to get them involved, the bureau and the office told the company by letter. They said a working group consensus isn’t required and the final report on the GPS interference issue may include more than one interference analysis and set of recommendations. FCC staffers generally won’t attend the group’s meetings and they will leave scheduling and agendas up to LightSquared, they said. If commission staff do attend, normal ex parte rules will apply, they said in a footnote.

On February 23, 2011, 11 trade organizations, including AAEI, NCBFAA, NRF and the Chamber of Commerce¹ sent a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R), in support of the confirmation of Alan Bersin as CBP Commissioner. If Bersin is not confirmed before the end of 2011, his term of office will expire.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued a proposed rule to apply the continuous inspection requirements of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA)¹ to imported and domestic catfish and catfish products. FSIS states that this proposed rule would, among other things, require imported catfish to be (i) inspected under a foreign system that is equivalent to that of the U.S. and (i) from establishments that the foreign inspection authority has certified as complying with U.S. requirements.

Broadcaster participation need not be high to raise nearly $28 billion from voluntary incentive auctions, said Phil Weiser, National Economic Council senior adviser to the director for technology and innovation. The White House estimated in its FY 2012 budget that the wireless effort could raise $27.8 billion. At a New America Foundation event Wednesday on the Hill, Weiser and other government officials acknowledged that the auctions and much else in Obama’s wireless plan rely on Congressional action. Meanwhile, speakers from industry and public interest groups urged government not to lose focus on spectrum sharing as it moves forward on auctions.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a press release on a proposed rule to require the inspection of catfish and catfish products by its Food Safety and Inspection Service, as required by the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill¹).

The FCC’s plan to hold voluntary incentive auctions “sounds like a bank holdup” to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., Dingell said at Wednesday’s House Communications Subcommittee hearing. “We know you are going to voluntarily give me this money or I'm going to shoot you in the brains.” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski replied: “Only if the free market is a bank holdup.” Also at the hearing, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., promised to take action against a Sunshine Act rule prohibiting more than two commissioners from sharing a room except in public meetings. Commissioner Michael Copps, who has long railed against the rule, raised the matter again at the hearing.

Concerns over federal committee rules could delay efforts to address spectrum interference worries related to LightSquared’s service, the U.S. GPS Industry Council (GIC) said in an “emergency petition” filing at the FCC late Tuesday. The FCC International Bureau waiver that established a working group to address GPS-industry concerns with LightSquared’s coming service (CD Jan 27 p1) needs quick FCC clarification, said the GIC. That waiver lacked a description of “whether the working group lies outside the scope of the Federal Advisory Committee Act,” which includes federal requirements for establishing a working group, said the GIC in the filing -- http://xrl.us/bh969f. The GIC asked for clarification by Feb. 23, two days before the Feb. 25 deadline when LightSquared is required to submit its first report on the working group to the FCC.

The time may finally be right for an overhaul of the Universal Service Fund and of intercarrier compensation, said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. He’s hopeful a “method” will be found to turn things like the rulemaking notice, approved by commissioners at last week’s monthly meeting, into “momentum” for making fixes to update the rules for the broadband age, he told us in a Q-and-A after his FCBA luncheon speech. “I think we've teed up an item that really raises all the issues,” he said, saying the regulator should hold stakeholder hearings on the issue. Copps used the speech to defend public broadcasting against Republican legislators’ efforts to cut funding and to urge the FCC and Chairman Julius Genachowski to do more to promote media diversity.