The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a fact sheet announcing the additional steps it will take to address newly emerging health and safety concerns regarding Bisphenol A, known as BPA.
The NAB generally supports national emergency alert system testing, as the FCC proposed Thursday (CD Jan 14 p5), a spokesman said Friday: “We look forward to working with the Commission in working through issues that will arise in the coordination process.”
The FCC was flooded with more than 100,000 comments and other filings on its October rulemaking notice that would deepen the FCC’s oversight of net neutrality as well as expand the rules to cover wireless. There were few surprises, with lines long drawn in the battle. Some major industry players including AT&T and Verizon are hinting at a legal challenge if the rules are adopted as proposed. A few traditional opponents found room for compromise.
Major public safety groups discussed the future of the 700 MHz D-block and a proposal to reallocate the spectrum for public safety use, at a meeting last week with Chairman Julius Genachowski, Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett and other commission officials. “The public safety representatives discussed the importance of obtaining additional broadband spectrum adjacent to the current 700 MHz public safety allocation and to identify sources of sustained funding,” said an ex parte filing by APCO, NENA, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Major County Sheriffs’ Association, the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, the National Emergency Management Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association. “The D block allocation, which the representatives acknowledged is a matter for Congress to address, is necessary to meet public safety capacity requirements, promote interoperability, reduce overall network and equipment costs, and facilitate public-private partnerships.”
The FCC was flooded with more than 100,000 comments and other filings on its October rulemaking notice that would deepen the FCC’s oversight of net neutrality as well as expand the rules to cover wireless. There were few surprises, with lines long drawn in the battle. Some major industry players including AT&T and Verizon are hinting at a legal challenge if the rules are adopted as proposed. A few traditional opponents found room for compromise.
The FCC proposed amending emergency alert system rules to require national testing and data collection. In its latest rulemaking notice, issued Thursday, the commission sought comment on whether the proposed change would “effectively ensure accurate EAS testing at the national level.” Currently, FCC Part 11 rules provide for periodic national EAS testing, but mandates only state and local testing. No U.S. president has ever issued a national alert, and it’s never been tested, the agency said. EAS testing was one issue raised last year in the Public Safety Bureau’s 30- day review.
Telecoms Sans Frontiers, the Vodafone Foundation and Ted Turner’s U.N. Foundation deployed assets to earthquake- stricken Haiti, the organizations said. Most of the communications into the area appear to have been disrupted, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told journalists Wednesday morning in New York. Channels of communication are very limited, he said referring to attempts to contact the area by satellite. TSF deployed a team with emergency telecom, satellite mobile and fixed telecommunications gear from Panama. Inmarsat, Eutelsat and AT&T supported the mission along with Vizada, AT&T, Cable and Wireless, PCCW Global and regional groups from France. The mission to Haiti is the fifth since 2003 for Telecoms Sans Frontiers, which will send more gear from its Paris headquarters. Inmarsat is offering additional support to government and other organizations in the region that join the relief efforts. Inmarsat can reallocate its spotbeams to high demand areas to make sure spectrum is available if necessary, it said. Spacenet is also offering help through its existing services to the country, a spokesman said. The company provides some VSAT service to the country’s national bank and can be used during the emergency, he said.
The World Customs Organization Secretary General, in a speech before the Customs Union Group of the EU Council on January 7, 2010, stated that the WCO's priorities for 2010 would include: (1) effective implementation of risk management techniques, (2) the establishment of a strong Customs-business partnership, (3) support for the "Globally Networked Customs" initiative, (4) the strengthening of border management and (5) the implementation of a Single Window system (by adopting, among other things, the WCO Data Model). (Report, dated 01/07/10, available at http://www.wcoomd.org/speeches/?v=1&lid=1&cid=2&id=194)
The U.S.-China Business Council has posted the results of its 2009 member survey of priorities when doing business in China. The top 10 priorities include: administrative and business licensing, impact of economic downturn, recruitment and retention of talent, competition and overcapacity in Chinese market, market access in services, standards and conformity assessment, developing sales and distribution channels, intellectual property rights enforcement, transparency, and protectionism in China. (Notice, posted 10/07/09, available at http://www.uschina.org/public/documents/2009/10/uscbc_member_survey.pdf)
Regulators should impose “meaningful conditions” on the purchase of control of NBC Universal by Comcast so they can’t withhold broadcast or cable programming from subscription-TV rivals, 25 consumer and industry groups wrote legislators and President Barack Obama. “A merger of this size and scope will have a devastating impact on the media marketplace. It will result in less competition, higher consumer costs and fewer content choices."