Providers in the heavily regulated health care industry are exposing themselves to new legal risks by racing into social media -- sometimes without needed guidance from agencies and sometimes oblivious to the rules that come along with virtual equivalents to conventional offline activity, speakers said Wednesday on an American Bar Association webcast and teleconference. More than 500 hospitals have Twitter accounts, almost as many have Facebook pages, members of the industry have more than 500 YouTube channels to themselves and almost 90 host active blogs, said Rosemary Plorin, a marketing consultant. The numbers would be even higher if not for the “reticence and outright resistance” of health care and life sciences companies scared off by legalities, said lawyer Michael Manthei of Holland & Knight.

In March 2010, the Office of the United States Trade Representative issued its Report on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Report) to Congress.

Companies large and small, public interest groups and trade associations offered a divided FCC very different takes on whether proposed net neutrality rules would stifle or spur competition, in replies in the net neutrality proceeding. The biggest change from the first comment round, in January, is that many filers focused on the Comcast decision and the complicated question of whether the FCC has authority to proceed with new net neutrality rules or first would have to change the way broadband is classified to gain clear authority.

Companies large and small, public interest groups and trade associations offered a divided FCC very different takes on whether proposed net neutrality rules would stifle or spur competition, in replies in the net neutrality proceeding. The biggest change from the first comment round, in January, is that many filers focused on the Comcast decision and the complicated question of whether the FCC has authority to proceed with new net neutrality rules or first would have to change the way broadband is classified to gain clear authority.

Analysts are uncertain if any major U.S. telecom operators would plan consolidation with Canadian players if a restriction on foreign ownership there is lifted (CD April 26 p3). Small wireless deals are possible, they said. Some major U.S. telcos were mum on their plans.

The “Safe Chemicals Act” (S. 3209) was introduced on April 15, 2010 to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act by establishing extensive new reporting requirements for manufacturers (including importers), processors, and distributors in commerce (including exporting or offering for export) of chemical substances.

TORONTO -- Canadian government officials are looking at ways to lift limits on foreign telecom and broadcast investment and attract more capital from the U.S. and abroad in response to industry complaints about the country’s restrictions. They're squabbling over how to do so without sacrificing Canadian control of the broadcast, cable, and telecom industries.

The International Trade Administration has initiated an anticircumvention inquiry to determine whether imports of certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate (CTL plate) are circumventing the AD duty order on CTL plate from China.

An April 2010 report from the Government Accountability Office found that following 2007 increases to the minimum wage in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and certain other factors, employment continued an existing downward trend, including closure of the last garment factory.¹

The proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement won’t restrict civil liberties, harass consumers or require what are called three-strikes systems for Internet infringement, the European Commission said Wednesday. It published the negotiating text from eighth round of talks, held in Wellington, New Zealand, April 12-16.