On July 25, 2011, the President issued a proclamation which determined that it is in the interests of the U.S. to suspend the entry into the U.S., as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of aliens who are subject to United Nations Security Council travel bans as of the date of the proclamation. It also determines that the interests of the U.S. are served by suspending the entry into the U.S., as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of aliens whose property and interests in property have been blocked by an Executive Order issued in whole or in part pursuant to the President's authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 USC 1701 et seq.). The Federal Register publication of Proclamation 8693 is available here.
The FCC asked whether it should again delay mandated compliance with FEMA’s Common Alerting Protocol for EAS (CD May 27 p4), and the answer from most parties was yes. Cable operators, phone companies and broadcasters all told the FCC to push back its Sept. 30 deadline by at least 6 months and some sought an extra year. But EAS equipment maker Sage Alerting Systems said the deadline shouldn’t be pushed back and that most of the broadcast industry is ready. “Another extension will simply delay orders until near the end of the new limit, much as the extension in November 2010 halted orders for a few months,” it said. The FCC should keep the deadline for making sure EAS participants have the equipment in place to receive CAP alerts, but give them another 90 days after FEMA starts distributing emergency messages to “actually begin receiving messages” from FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System servers, it said. That way they can learn how to use the equipment, it said.
Toyota urged the FCC to change the limits for radiated emissions in the 76-77 GHz band to allow more use of “stop and go” adaptive cruise control (ACC) and rear pre-collision (RPCS) systems in the cars it manufactures for sale in the U.S. (http://xrl.us/bk2qij). In a May 25 rulemaking notice, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on whether the commission should modify its rules for the band with an eye on improved collision avoidance and driver safety (http://xrl.us/bk2qje).
On July 20, 2011, the White House posted a notice from the President regarding his decision to continue for one year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13348 regarding measures, including the blocking of the property of certain persons connected to the former Liberian regime of Charles Taylor, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706). The notice was transmitted to the Congress and will be published in the Federal Register.
The following are trade-related highlights of the Executive Communications sent to Congress on July 8-15, 2011:
Division over the 700 MHz D-block is the main barrier to bipartisan spectrum legislation in the House, lawmakers said at a Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday. The Commerce Committee’s top Democrats and top Republicans have signed onto separate draft bills. The Democrats want to reallocate the D-block to public safety and the Republicans seek to auction it to commercial providers. While both sides voiced optimism about reaching consensus, debt limit negotiations threaten to suck up a key component of the legislation: Voluntary incentive auctions. (See separate report in this issue.)
An FCC panel is working on three reports on the accessibility of video to those with problems seeing or hearing, after finishing a 35-page set of recommendations Monday on captioning programming that goes online, committee members said in interviews. They said Thursday that the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) next is working on a report recommending how the agency implements part of legislation passed last year on emergency access for the disabled to video programming. The report posted to the committee’s wiki this week (CD July 14 p17) but not yet formally released asks the commission to implement various other deadlines under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. The VPAAC’s work includes consumer electronics, Internet and other communications issues.
An FCC panel is working on three reports on the accessibility of video to those with problems seeing or hearing, after finishing a 35-page set of recommendations Monday on captioning programming that goes online, committee members said in interviews. They said Thursday that the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) next is working on a report recommending how the agency implements part of legislation passed last year on emergency access for the disabled to video programming. The report posted to the committee’s wiki this week but not yet formally released asks the commission to implement various other deadlines under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. The VPAAC’s work includes CE, Internet and other communications issues.
An FCC panel is working on three reports on the accessibility of video to those with problems seeing or hearing, after finishing a 35-page set of recommendations Monday on captioning programming that goes online, committee members said in interviews. They said Thursday that the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) next is working on a report recommending how the agency implements part of legislation passed last year on emergency access for the disabled to video programming. The report posted to the committee’s wiki this week (WID July 14 p7) but not yet formally released asks the commission to implement various other deadlines under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. The VPAAC’s work includes consumer electronics, Internet and other communications issues.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a proposed rule that would implement a control structure under the Export Administration Regulations in order to transfer less significant items that no longer warrant control on the U.S. Munitions List to control under the Commerce Control List.