EU lawmakers should approve the U.K.'s data protection regime, said 16 tech and business groups Wednesday. They said the European Commission's proposed "adequacy decision" recognizes the country's privacy rules provide sufficient safeguards under the general data protection regulation. The Civil Liberties Committee urged the EC this week to revisit the decision to "bring it in line with EU court rulings and the opinions of the EU privacy supervisor." Legislative concerns included that U.K. law allows for bulk data access without suspicion of crime, and for bulk data retention, which the European Court of Justice says is inconsistent with GDPR rights, and that U.K. data-sharing agreements with the U.S. raise the possibility of Europeans' information being shared despite recent ECJ rulings that U.S. bulk data access is incompatible with the regulation. The draft resolution comes up for vote in plenary May 20. The industry groups said the European Parliament should support the decision because the "negative consequences of an interruption in data flows would be substantial" to U.K. and EU businesses since the EU is Britain's main trading partner. Signatories include the Information Technology Industry Council, Computer and Communications Industry Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Energous’ WattUp PowerHub completed a regulatory review with a European body verifying the wireless charging transmitter complies with European technical requirements for radio equipment, said Energous Tuesday. It said the PowerHub complies with international RF requirements including RF safety (SAR) and has no receiver distance limitation, Energous said. The company believes it’s the first European approval for a wireless power transfer distance charger that transmits more than 1 watt, said Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Daniel Lawless. It establishes Energous’ ability to enable over-the-air wireless 2.0 power transfer beyond 15 feet, said Chief Operating Officer Cesar Johnston. The WattUp PowerHub comprises the DA14682 (Bluetooth low energy 5.0), DA4100 (wireless power transfer), EN3913M (efficient GaN power amplifier) and EN3921 (controller) transmitters alongside the DA2223 (RF-to-DC) and DA14585 (ultralow power Bluetooth low energy) receivers.

Q1 smartphone imports to the U.S. declined 22% sequentially to 44.72 million handsets, up 24% from a year earlier, per Census data accessed Saturday through the International Trade Commission. Chinese smartphone shipments of 36.59 million handsets were down 24% from Q4 but 53% higher than Q1 2020, when China generated 66.4% amid COVID-19's lower factory utilization. China’s Q1 smartphone share was a more customary 82%, down slightly from 84.3% in Q4. Vietnam shipped 6.55 million smartphones to the U.S. in Q1, 8.4% fewer than in Q4, and 26% fewer than in Q1 2020. Vietnam as a haven for low-end smartphones is likely to continue ceding share to China, which owns the market in premium handset production, including 5G-enabled devices.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected as premature China Telecom America’s appeal of an FCC order revoking the company’s Communications Act Section 214 authorizations (see 2102020029). The court Monday sided with arguments made by the FCC in dismissing the appeal for lack of jurisdiction (see 2104020055). “This court may exercise jurisdiction only over final agency actions … and certain interlocutory and collateral orders,” the 4th U.S. Circuit said in docket 20-2365 (in Pacer): “The order CTA seeks to appeal is neither.” The company didn’t comment.

ABI warned about IoT security. “Some devices are incapable of being secured,” it said Friday: Original equipment manufacturers and vendors “often choose to accept the risk, rather than remediate it during a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), while many others choose not to do a CBA.” ABI estimates 8.6 billion IoT global connections, rising to 23.6 billion by 2026: "This exponential growth will usher in a new era of connectivity and productivity in the years ahead" and "new threat vectors and vulnerabilities."

Connected vehicles sales are on a recovery path, despite chip shortages, reported ABI Research Thursday. Consumers are becoming “more demanding” about in-vehicle infotainment, “driving strong interest in connected vehicles and boosting growth opportunities,” it said. ABI projects 20% growth in connected vehicle sales in 2021 from 2020, and a 10.4% compound annual growth rate through 2026. The recently announced Ford-Google partnership (see 2102010062) “shows a considerable migration to Android OS,” which will have more than doubled penetration in production vehicles by 2024, said ABI: Shipments of vehicles with “connected infotainment” will return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels this year.

NTIA asked for comment by June 7 on “activities, priorities, and policies that advance telecommunications and information and communications technology development worldwide” as the U.S. prepares for the ITU’s World Telecommunication Development Conference, says Thursday's Federal Register. The conference is Nov. 8-19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Trade groups whose members would pay foreign digital services taxes and those whose members would have to pay if tariffs are hiked up to 25% on products from the countries imposing DSTs agree the levies are wrong and government should use full persuasive power to convince countries like India, the U.K. and Spain not to impose these taxes. Tech groups split on whether tariffs are the right tool to convince countries to roll back or never pass DSTs. The Computer & Communications Industry Association gave the most direct support of levying tariffs on DST countries. In testimony at a virtual Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hearing Monday, CCIA Policy Counsel Rachael Stelly said USTR should work for a global international taxes solution and impose tariffs “to deter countries and send a strong message. CCIA "takes seriously the impact that tariffs can have," she said. "Tariffs should only be used in limited circumstances, in a targeted manner, and where there is a clear strategy in place designed to change the behavior of a trading partner. USTR’s proposed action appears to meet this standard.” Internet Association Director-Trade Policy Jordan Haas said IA has no position on the proposed retaliatory tariffs and hopes duties will never be levied because ideally, countries will roll back DST laws. He's concerned more countries are thinking of imposing such taxes. The App Association opposed tariffs, concerned targeted countries could retaliate and its small company members would be hurt. Representatives from the Retail Industry Leaders Association, National Retail Federation and others spoke against the tariffs.

Global Eagle will use Eutelsat Ku-band transponders to add capacity in North America for its aviation connectivity customers, Eutelsat said Monday, announcing the multi-year deal involving the Eutelsat 7A satellite. It said the satellite will be renamed Eutelsat 139WA.

Digital services taxes drove countries back to the negotiating table on international tax harmonization, and now it may be hard to roll back such DSTs, experts said. Many tech and other stakeholders oppose other countries' digital taxes. The U.S. was driven to talks again because so many countries were considering taxing revenue, rather than profit, of digital giants like Facebook and Google, Deloitte Managing Partner Bob Stack told a Washington International Trade Association webinar Thursday. "Countries need to commit to get rid of these DSTs. That's the deal to be had." Noting a U.S. proposal for Organization of Economic Coordination and Development member-countries to drop such levies, Miller & Chevalier's Loren Ponds said "it’s a matter of everybody dropping their weapons at the same time" and "nobody wants to go first." Georgetown Law professor Lilian Faulhaber reminded that most DSTs haven't actually been imposed. "Part of that is probably because USTR pushed back so hard," she said of the Office of U.S. Trade Representative. USTR didn't comment Friday.