Intel opposes the proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties on semiconductor imports from China, it said in comments posted Wednesday in docket USTR-2018-0018. Intel is one of many tech interests arguing this week for removing Chinese semiconductor imports from the tariffs list because most semiconductors the U.S. imports are made in the U.S., shipped to China for final, low-end assembly, testing and packaging (ATP), and then shipped back to the U.S. “No rational U.S. semiconductor company is going to incur the very high costs and other risks raised by relocating an ATP facility in China with an already established ecosystem to a green field site in another country,” said Intel. It estimates it would cost $650 million to $875 million to move an ATP plant out of China. The Internet Association wants to testify at U.S. Trade Representative hearings Aug. 20-23 to urge removing 22 tariff lines “that cover products internet companies use to function on a daily basis,” said the company in a filing posted Thursday in docket USTR-2018-0026. IA wants excluded from proposed 10 percent tariffs “control or adapter units for automatic data processing machines” and other components. Imposing new duties on the 22 tariff lines“would not help to correct China's practices, but would cause disproportionate economic harm to American internet companies,” said the association. Friday is the deadline for requests to appear.

Anything that goes against free trade between the world's two largest economies "could eventually have a macro effect that would be detrimental to everybody,” said Texas Instruments Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi on a Tuesday-evening earnings call, about the Trump administration’s proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs against Chinese semiconductor imports (see 1807240005). TI sees no “direct impact other than some minimal impact” if those tariffs take effect, he said. TI draws only about 13 percent of its revenue from products it imports to the U.S., he said. “Only a sliver of that has Chinese origin,” he said. “Only about 1 percent of our revenue would have those tariffs applied to it,” and that's before TI makes “any adjustments” in its supply chain “and other things that we could do to even minimize that impact further,” he said. The earnings call was TI's first since it named Chairman Rich Templeton to return to his former CEO role, replacing Brian Crutcher, who resigned for allegedly violating the company's code of conduct in his personal behavior (see 1807180062). Templeton, who didn't appear on the call, is "fully engaged" and busy "executing our strategy," said Dave Pahl, vice president-investor relations.

CTA wants the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to remove 54 tariff lines involving many chip-related items plus things like motion sensors from imports from China targeted for a second tranche of 25 percent duties, said Sage Chandler, vice president-international trade, in comments Monday in docket USTR-2018-0018. Chandler’s testimony at the USTR’s Tuesday hearing said the tariffs would bring “disproportionate” harm to U.S. consumers and businesses without thwarting allegedly unfair Chinese trade practices, emailed a CTA spokesperson. "The tariffs will not only impact electroindustry manufacturers’ supply chains, but also may be passed on to their customers’ supply chains and the broader U.S. industrial and infrastructure base," commented the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Lutron also had concerns. Dell said such measures “would further undermine U.S. competitiveness in information technology.” It said it's "deeply troubled by the cumulative and self-destructive impact" of such penalties "on critical information technology inputs.” Voxx International wants five tariff lines removed, it said, including antenna components.

Several tech industry allies will testify Tuesday against 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's first of two days of hearings, said a new witness list. Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade, will speak, as expected (see 1807200059). Logitech and Universal Electronics will argue for excluding remote controls and other devices imported from China, their comments in docket USTR-2018-0018 showed. The “vast majority” of Universal’s remotes are manufactured in Chinese factories that Universal owns and operates, said CEO Paul Arling, who will testify. Imposing the additional duties on those products “would cause disproportionate economic harm to U.S. interests, including small- or medium-size businesses and consumers,” by forcing higher subscription costs for pay-TV and over-the-top services, said Arling. Many of the spare parts and components U.S. companies import from China “are in fact made by other U.S. companies,” said Jonathan Davis, global vice president-industry advocacy at Semi, which represents electronics industry supply-chain interests. Those companies hold on to their own intellectual property and “only perform low-value manufacturing in China, while the high value-added work is completed in the United States,” said Davis. Josh Kallmer, senior vice president-global policy at the Information Technology Industry Council, will testify for excluding several tariff lines on diodes and integrated circuits, he told the USTR. David Isaacs, Semiconductor Industry Association vice president-government affairs, who will testify on the same panel as Kallmer, said that such tariffs on semiconductors would “fail to address problematic Chinese forced tech transfer and IP theft. Chinese companies export almost no semiconductors to the U.S. market. Most U.S. semiconductor imports from China are semiconductors designed and manufactured in the U.S., and then shipped to China for the final stage."

A German court will refer ICANN's case against domain registrar EPAG (see 1806220001) to the Higher Regional Court, ICANN blogged Thursday. The injunctive action, filed in May in the Regional Court in Bonn, asked for "assistance in interpreting" the EU general data protection regulation after EPAG said it will no longer collect registrants' administrative and technical contact information when it sells new domain names, for fear of violating the regulation (see 1805280001). The Regional Court ruled against ICANN, which then appealed for an order requiring EPAG to reinstate collecting the data. The court re-evaluated the decision with comments from EPAG and will now refer the case to the higher court.

A “massive influx” of Chinese-sourced computers and electronics to the U.S. has been the “primary driver of the bilateral trade deficit” between those countries, the U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission reported Thursday. U.S. imports of Chinese computer and electronics products jumped 458 percent to $184 billion in 2017 from 2002, “by far” the largest category of Chinese shipments last year, comprising 37 percent of total imports, said the commission, created in 2000 by Congress and whose 12 commissioners are picked by legislative leaders. “Low labor costs, a central position in East Asia, and preferential policies in China’s special economic zones caused a structural readjustment of global supply chains and enabled China to become the world’s hub for the production of laptops, phones, and data storage devices.”

ICANN is getting questions about how it will enforce temporary rules for Whois compliance under the EU general data protection regulation, Senior Vice President-Contractual Compliance and Consumer Safeguards Jamie Hedlund blogged Monday. The temporary specification, effective May 25, modifies ICANN registry and registrar contracts, and awaits EU data protection authorities' OK (see 1807160017). Hedlund hears concerns including: (1) How ICANN will obtain non-public registration data needed to process complaints. (2) The availability of data published in Whois, which includes issues about over-redacting public registration data, and redacted fields that are missing anonymized email and/or webforms to contact domain name owners. (3) Missing required registrant email addresses. (4) Registries providing thick bulk registration data access files to ICANN instead of thin data. There are queries about the process for filing complaints alleging noncompliance, Hedlund said: The most relevant form for filing is here, but ICANN "will process complaints regardless of the form used."

ICANN is "carefully evaluating" guidance from the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on Whois compliance with the general data protection regulation, General Counsel John Jeffrey blogged Friday. The July 5 letter provides additional advice that could "help significantly advance" the discussion, he said. Privacy officials answered questions about ICANN's approach. The EDPB said personal data identifying individual employees or third parties acting on behalf of a registrant shouldn't be made publicly available by default, but if the registrant provides generic contact email information (e.g., admin@domain.com), publication is OK. On a unified access model for legitimate Whois users, EDPB said nonpublic data could be made available to third parties "provided that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure that the disclosure is proportionate and limited to that which is necessary" and other GDPR mandates are met. It's likely the internet body will receive additional input if the community agrees on a method for providing access to nonpublic Whois information, Jeffrey wrote. The board also discussed ICANN's ongoing legal case in Germany against domain name registrar EPAG (see 1806220001), and ICANN has submitted the letter to the court. Governments are struggling to help ICANN comply with the GDPR while keeping the Whois database as open as possible (see 1806260021).

The Department of Commerce formally lifted its ban on U.S. companies selling (see 1804170018) telecom software and equipment to ZTE, after the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer placed $400 million in escrow as part of a deal on alternative concessions as punishment for selling equipment to Iran and North Korea and misleading the U.S. government. Commerce now suspends the ban during a 10-year “probationary period” also conditioned on an additional $1 billion. The Bureau of Industry and Security can reactivate the ban if ZTE again violates sanctions during its probation. “The Department will remain vigilant as we closely monitor ZTE’s actions to ensure compliance,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Friday. President Donald Trump became closely involved in May in the bid to relax the ban, sparking outcry that culminated in passage of anti-ZTE language in the House and Senate's FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. Congress began working last week to reconcile the two HR-5515 versions (see 1807110067).

With no regulatory problems regarding Fox's proposed buy of Sky, "it is now a matter for the Sky shareholders to decide whether to accept [Fox's] bid," U.K. Secretary of State-Digital, Culture, Media Jeremy Wright said Thursday, approving the deal a day after Comcast made a new offer for Sky. Wright said he agrees with the previous culture secretary of state, whom he replaced this week, that the deal doesn't raise public interest concerns (see 1806050003). Comcast Wednesday said it increased its cash offer to 14.75 British pounds ($19.48) per share, topping the 14 pounds offer Fox made earlier this week (see 1807110031). Comcast said Sky's independent committee was recommending its bid and Sky is "an outstanding company and a great fit." It said it already received regulatory approvals for a Sky deal from the EU, Austria, Germany, Italy and Jersey, and it expects to close on Sky by October. Fox didn't comment Thursday. Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and three other senators urged the DOJ Antitrust Division Wednesday to review Comcast's bid for much of Fox (see 1807120049).