Comments are due March 22 in docket 2019-0005 on the Commerce Department’s interim final rule for “securing" the information tech supply chain against threats from foreign adversaries, said Tuesday’s Federal Register. Though the interim rule will take effect the day comments are due, Commerce “continues to welcome public input.” Once it evaluates additional comments, it’s “committed to issuing a final rule,” the agency said. “Some foreign adversaries are known to exploit the sale of software and hardware to introduce vulnerabilities that can allow them to steal critical intellectual property” or data, the department said: "Unrestricted acquisition or use" of IT supply chains that were designed by people “subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security.”

The FCC “has the legal authority to revoke and terminate” China Telecom Americas’ Communications Act Section 214 authorizations,” NTIA said in a filing posted Friday in FCC docket 20-109, responding to a June redacted filing from the company. “China Telecom Americas argues that revocation ‘requires’ a showing by clear and convincing evidence of egregious misconduct. China Telecom Americas misreads the law in multiple ways.” Precedent “does not limit revocation to egregious misconduct,” NTIA said. The company didn't comment.

Commerce Department rules for reviewing transactions involving some foreign telecom and IT products and services would cost all 4.5 million firms possibly affected as much as $20 billion, the department says in Tuesday's Federal Register. The rule allows Commerce to step in to review any proposed, ongoing or pending ITCS goods or services transaction. The rule provides for an optional "licensing" process whereby companies can request a review of their transaction and, if approved, get safe harbor. Procedures for the licenses will be published by Commerce in 60 days, the rule said. Included in the new supply chain rules are information or communications technology used in a critical infrastructure; software, hardware and services integral to wireless local area networks, mobile networks, satellite payloads and operations and control; software or hardware that has sensitive personal data on more than 1 million U.S. customers; and software designed for communicating via the Internet used by more than that number.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai signed an agreement Friday to implement coordination of cross-border spectrum use between the U.S. and Canada, said a news release. The “Transitional Arrangement” with Canadian industry agency Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) concerns “provisional application” of an agreement signed by the two countries last week. “This agreement will improve our nations’ effectiveness in eliminating harmful interference along our shared border," said Pai. “The agreements will enable the FCC, NTIA, and ISED to continue to facilitate rapid deployment of radio communications systems while minimizing harmful interference,” the release said. The latest agreement supersedes previous ones, including the “Above 30 MHz Agreement,” which was last updated in 1962.

Patents and trademarks motivated by “non-market factors,” such as subsidies, government mandates, “bad-faith” applications and “defensive countermeasures," can “undermine the reliability” of intellectual property “registries,” reported the Patent and Trademark Office Wednesday. The growing number of “suspect” applications filed in the U.S. from China prompted the agency to “study the reasons for this development.” Though PTO knows of no “public source information” showing what proportion of IP applications in China are motivated by subsidies, “it has observed the impact of Chinese subsidies granted for foreign trademark applications.” After Shenzhen and other cities began offering subsidies for overseas trademark applications, PTO experienced a “surge” in fraudulent applications originating in China, it said. Irregularities can abound, including narrowing the scope of “protections” available to IP owners “engaged in the legitimate sale of goods and services,” it said. “Absent consideration of the role of non-market factors, cross-border comparisons based on the raw number of trademark and patent applications risk overstating brand creation and innovation activity in China.” PTO offered no recommended remedies.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security loosened its license review policy for exports of certain drones controlled under export administration regulations. After similar action by the State Department in July (see 2007280006), this imposes case-by-case license review on certain unmanned aerial systems (UASs) rather than presumption of denial. The U.S. “remains committed to the goals” of the multilateral missile technology control regime, in which the drones are still controlled under a “strong presumption of denial,” but “rapid advances” in drone technology and “growing commercial uses” for UAS warrant loosened export restrictions, BIS ruled in Tuesday's Federal Register.

As 200 CEOs opposed the possible U.S. tariffs on Vietnamese goods, newly released November Census Bureau import statistics show Vietnam’s growing role in consumer tech. Vietnam as a sourcing country made substantial share gains the past year in product categories experiencing historic spikes in consumer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, we found. It's most notable in smaller TV screens. U.S. importers also sourced about a fifth of smartphones from Vietnam in the year through November. Smartphone imports to the U.S. from all countries reached 21.44 million, up 1.6% from 2019. Chinese smartphone imports to the U.S. were 18.28 million, up 18%. The average such phone, at $367.30, was 27% more expensive. Vietnam shipped 2.6 million smartphones here in November, down 43%. The average at $187.87 was 24% more expensive. Tariffs on Vietnam aren't the answer to curb Hanoi's allegedly unfair devaluation of the dong against the dollar, wrote CEOs of LG, Samsung, Sony, CTA, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Information Technology Industry Council, Internet Association and Semiconductor Industry Association and others to President Donald Trump Thursday, posted Friday in docket USTR-2020-0037. Their letter reflects widespread fear the Trump administration will rush through a Federal Register notice imposing tariffs on Vietnam, even if the duties take effect after Jan. 20. The White House didn't comment Monday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo OK'd the Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies Bureau, to “reorganize” U.S. cyberspace and emerging technology security policy, the State Department said. CSET will address national security challenges from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and “other cyber and emerging technology competitors,” leading U.S. efforts “on a wide range of international cyberspace security and emerging technology policy issues,” the department said Thursday.

Microsoft's GitHub said it got a U.S. sanctions license to provide services to software developers in Iran. GitHub, which provides hosting for software development, convinced the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls that its use “advances human progress” and international communication, and improves free speech, the company said Tuesday. GitHub called the two-year process with OFAC “lengthy and intensive” and said it's “in the process” of rolling back “all restrictions on developers in Iran, and reinstating full access.” The company said it's working to secure similar licenses for developers in Crimea and Syria. OFAC didn’t comment Thursday.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security renewed its temporary export control on certain artificial intelligence software, extending it a year from Jan. 6, said that day's Federal Register. BIS originally added the software to temporary controls under export administration regulations because it intended to propose it for multilateral control for the 2020 Wassenaar Arrangement. But Wassenaar’s annual plenary wasn't held last year due to COVID-19. BIS said the extension helps the U.S. “continue its effort at the Wassenaar Arrangement in 2021.”