The American Conference Institute has announced that the Fundamentals of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) boot camp will be held on June 4 - 5, 2007 in San Francisco, California. The following topics will be covered at the boot camp: creating a code of conduct that matters, tailoring FCPA training to the company, dealing with violations, defining policies around screening and documenting potential business partners, performing anti-corruption risk assessments, and FCPA books and records requirements. More information and a registration form is available at http://www.americanconference.com/FCPAbootcamp.htm

House members focused on disagreements on how to spend interoperability grant money and which cities are truly at high risk in a Wed. grilling of high-ranking officials. The House Subcommittee on Emergency Communications heard testimony on Public Safety Interoperability Communications (PSIC) grants from Corey Gruber, acting DHS assistant secy. for grants & training; NTIA Dir. John Kneuer; and Charles Dowd, N.Y. Police Dept. Communications dir. Homeland Security Committee Chmn. Thompson (D-Miss.) voiced concern later that Kneuer’s reading of the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act -- which sets aside the interop money -- conflicts with his own.

In addressing a TracFone challenge to the new right to unlock cellphones, a federal judge finally must grapple with an 8-year-old constitutional quandary: When the Copyright Office creates 3-year exemptions to the ban on circumvention of technical protections of copyrighted works, is it acting as an arm of the executive or legislative branch? The U.S. and TracFone each have answered both ways. Written arguments over DoJ’s motion to dismiss the company’s suit or grant summary judgment -- wrapped up last week in U.S. Dist. Court, Miami -- ask Judge Donald Graham to decide. The parties have asked him for a hearing on the arguments and are awaiting his decision, a court official said Wed.

In addressing a TracFone challenge to the new right to unlock cellphones (CD March 9 p3), a federal judge finally must grapple with an 8-year-old constitutional quandary: When the Copyright Office creates 3-year exemptions to the ban on circumvention of technical protections of copyrighted works, is it acting as an arm of the executive or legislative branch? The U.S. and TracFone each have answered both ways. Written arguments over DoJ’s motion to dismiss the company’s suit or grant summary judgment -- wrapped up last week in U.S. Dist. Court, Miami -- ask Judge Donald Graham to decide. The parties have asked him for a hearing on the arguments and are awaiting his decision, a court official said Wed.

The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee has issued an advisory announcing that it will be holding a hearing on March 20, 2007 on negotiations to complete a free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the U.S. The advisory states that the purpose of the hearing is to examine ongoing negotiations to conclude a FTA between South Korea and the U.S. and to assess the state of negotiations going into their final week.

The Journal of Commerce Online reports that on March 9, 2007, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would raise tonnage taxes on vessels arriving at U.S. ports as a way of paying for improvements in water-pollution control. (JoC Online, dated 03/09/07, www.joc.com.)

The Ida. House State Affairs Committee, at Qwest’s request, killed a bill that would have shifted video franchising from municipalities to the Secy. of State, and tabled for inter-session study a cable-backed bill (HB-195) that would have set a 45-day “shot clock” for municipalities to act on video franchise applications, with municipal denials appealed to the PUC. The cable-backed bill would have imposed buildout requirements, where the Qwest bill had none. Qwest said its goal with HB-192 was streamlined video franchising through the state, but there wasn’t enough time remaining in the 2007 session to answer objections raised by municipalities and other opponents of the measure. Qwest said it shares with cities the goals of more video competition and increased broadband investment, but realized more discussion was needed on how to achieve those goals, so it asked that its bill be killed. The committee concluded the cable-backed bill involved issues similar to the Qwest bill, so further study was in order.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard have issued a final rule on the biometric-based Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) for all personnel requiring unescorted access to secure areas of Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA)-regulated facilities or vessels, and all mariners holding Coast Guard-issued credentials.

The International Trade Administration has issued a notice initiating Section 129 proceedingsin order to implement a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel report finding that the ITA's use of "zeroing" in average-to-average comparison antidumping (AD) investigations in 12 European Community AD investigations is inconsistent with U.S. obligations under the WTO Agreements.

Broadcasters and consumer groups complained that an XM- Sirius merger would harm consumers, but Sirius said a combined company would increase competition, at a hearing Wed. of the House Judiciary Committee’s new Antitrust Task Force. The deal “should raise a red flag for the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission whose job is to promote competition and consumer choice in the marketplace,” said Gene Kimmelman, vp-Consumers Union.