Archives of Previous News and Alerts posts

DHS Solicitation to ANAB  -- Private Sector Preparedness Voluntary Accreditation and Certification Program

FCC NOTICE OF APPARENT  $1,000,000 LIABILITY FOR FORFEITURE AND ORDER February 16, 2006  Due to  egregious nature of Behringer’s continued noncompliance with FCC equipment authorization requirements

GTW Associates January 2006 Comments on OMB proposal for polices and procedures for agencies to develop, issue and use guidance documents

Insight Volume 7 Num 1 February  2004  

H. R. 1086 ‘‘Standards Development Organization Advancement Act of 2003 ’’ Introduced March 5, 2003 To encourage the development and promulgation of voluntary consensus standards by providing relief under the antitrust laws to standards development organizations with respect to conduct engaged in for the purpose of developing voluntary consensus standards, and for other purposes.

February 27, 2003 US Congressional Record  IN HONOR OF AN OUTSTANDING AMERICAN AND HIS WORK AS PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ORGANIZATION: OLIVER R. SMOOT

February 13  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL EVALUATION OF THE APPLICATION OF DIRECTIVE 98/34/EC IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION SOCIETY SERVICES   Over  20 years, Directive 98/34/EC has enabled over 7 000 draft national regulatory texts to be analysed. Member States  notify at the draft stage, any national provisions containing technical regulations. The scope of the Directive has been gradually broadened to cover all industrial, agricultural and fishery products. Directive 98/48/EC extended the system to include Information Society services.

Council Decision of 21 January 2003 suspending the Community obligations under the Sectoral Annex for Electrical Safety of the Agreement on Mutual Recognition between the European Community and the United States of America

A trial court had concluded in litigation Rambus v. Infineon that Rambus, at the time a member of the Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC), had committed fraud by failing to disclose patent rights which it later asserted against adopters of a JEDEC memory standard.  On January 29, 2003 A  three-judge panel of United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the jury’s verdict against Rambus and the trial judge’s decision upholding the verdict.  In a 2-1 decision, the majority of the panel rejected JEDEC’s patent disclosure rule as too “amorphous” and “unbounded.” On  February 26, 2003  Infineon filed a  petition for rehearing en banc, which is essentially a review of the circuit court's majority’s decision by all the judges of the court.  A coalition of standards  organizations   filed  an  “amicus brief” March 5 supporting rehearing en banc

Finding that European Communities non use of an International standard was inconsistent with TBT Agreement December 24 European Communities and Peru  informed the WTO Dispute Settlement Body  that the deadline  for the European Communities to implement the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in the dispute EC – Trade Description of Sardines (DS231), adopted on 23 October 2002 will expire on 23 April 2003   In light of our findings that Codex Stan 94 is a relevant international standard, that it was not used as a basis for the EC Regulation and that it is not ineffective or inappropriate to fulfil the legitimate objectives pursued by the EC Regulation, we find that the EC Regulation is inconsistent with Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement.

GTW Associates President  George Willingmyre assisted the ANSI Regional Steering committee for Europe and the Middle East prepare  for the  discussion of   Global relevance of ISO, IEC and ITU  2001 as part of ANSI meetings with representatives of The European Commission and European standards officials November 6

ISO TC 176 to begin work on international standards for Market Based Codes of Practice and Alternative Dispute Settlement  Global Standards Challenges for the Services Business Sector  

Government Precedents,  Actions,   and public and private sector litigation  involving standards setting and IPR and Antitrust

GTW Associates commented to USTR  that Standards for trade in services have increasing implications for any business aspiring to compete in a global market for services  in reply to the USTR request for information  Concerning Market Access in the Doha Development Agenda Negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) 

GTW Associates President George Willingmyre  presented  "Service Standards in the United States"  at the September 30/ October 1 2002 Conference "Services Standards for Global Markets" in Berlin 

On June 14, 2002  GTW Associates commented to FTC with respect to the FTC study  of  Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy   and public hearing April 18  Standard-Setting Practices: Competition, Innovation and Consumer Welfare.  

GTW Associates President Willingmyre  presented  Overcoming Trade Barriers: The OECD Project  at the  May 1-3, 2002  Conference  "Protecting the Public Network in a Privatized Part 68 Environment: What the Telecom Industry Needs to Know"  sponsored by the Advisory Council on Terminal Attachments.  The presentation  covered  work of the OECD Trade Committee; UN/ECE WP6 and the Industry Cooperation on Standards and Conformity Assessment 

FTC and DOJ  convened a hearing April 18, 2002 in Washington Standard-Setting Practices: Competition, Innovation and Consumer Welfare to discuss the antitrust treatment of common practices used by organizations to set standards that incorporate intellectual property and the  effects on innovation and product market competition.  The April hearing was one in a series Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy.    Public comments available 

May 23 introduction  of HR4849 Standards Development Organization Advancement Act of 2002 to revise the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993  to include standards developing organizations

On July 11 Forgent Networks claims  essential IPR in JPEG standard  Offers license terms.    July 19  JPEG committee thinks there is prior art...sets up web site to collect data     July 22 ZDNET story     Website created following the development

USTR issued  2002 National Trade Estimates Report on Foreign Trade Barriers in European Union April 6, 2002

US Department of State Report on Economic Policy and Trade Practices of the European Union  February 2002 Including Trade Barriers

An ad hoc group  UN/ECE Working Party on Technical Harmonization and Standardization Policies (Working Party 6) met in June to explore application of a global model for harmonization of technical regulation in the telecommunications sector 

On July 12 the US Senate began consideration of the Legislation passed by the House HR 2733  Enterprise Integration Act of 2002.  To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work with major manufacturing industries on an initiative of standards development and implementation for electronic enterprise integration.

The Ninth Meeting of the Industry Cooperation on Standards and Conformity Assessment has been announced for November 20-22 in Austin Texas 

On July 11 ANSI requested comments on an ISO proposal to begin work on international standards for Alternative Dispute Settlement and Codes of Practice.  Comments due to ANSI by August 9.  Comments due to ISO by September 20

August 13, 2002  Federal Register CPSC notified its provisional  agreement with Briggs & Stratton (B&S)   for B&S  to pay  $400K civil penalty.  CPSC charged B&S obtained information which reasonably supported the conclusion that certain B&S  engines contained a defect which could create a substantial product hazard and created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, but failed to report such information to the Commission 

FTC letter to Attorneys for Sun Microsystems, " It is no longer in the public interest to continue this investigation, not withstanding the fact that the Commission has serious questions about the propriety of the underling conduct involved 

August 16, 2003 letter from the US Department of Labor Occupational SALARY and Health Administration.  I imagine the Linthicum, Maryland DOL OSHA area office will be hearing any day now from Washington that they are supposed to be interested in safety, not salary.  What a relief to know I am not the only one who makes typos. 

Officials from the Administrative Council; Consumer Product Safety Commission; and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discuss  use of Suppliers Declaration principles in fulfilling US Regulatory responsibilities during December 3 Panel at NIST hosted Conference  "Conformity Assessment for a Changing Environment"

The FTC is investigating  matters  similar to  the landmark FTC consent agreement with Dell Computer  where FTC charged  that Dell restricted competition in the personal computer industry and undermined the standard-setting process by threatening to exercise undisclosed patent rights against computer companies. Quote We want to make sure...to reinforce the incentives of participants to properly adhere to the responsibilities  of their memberships"

A June 25, 2001  article in the French Paper "Les Echos" reports the first  instance of   government taking action with respect to  private sector compliance with the newly revised  OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises.  Criticized  for its policy in Burma, the French petroleum company TotalFina was to have to prove in front of government representatives that  TotalFina respects the OECD guiding principles intended to promote  ethical behavior 

May 14, 2001  Council decision to ratify Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the European Community on the coordination of energy-efficient labeling programs for office equipment ... an example of responsive action to reduce non tariff barriers to trade 

House Science Committee Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards - Hearing Thursday June 28, 2001 Standards-Setting and United States Competitiveness 

European standardisation: harnessing the power of the market to deliver on public policy aims  The EU's market-led standardisation model is delivering the regulatory flexibility we need to keep pace with technological change, encourage innovative entrepreneurs, sustain the internal market's vitality, and duly protect the environment and consumer interests, says a new report on European standardisation, presented to EU internal market ministers by Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen on 27 September, 2001

GTW Associates President Willingmyre presented  "Value of Management System Certification"   at the 10th International Conference of Standards Users (IFAN) event  "World Trade and Standardization"  in Berlin September 27/28