3/22. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) announced that its Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on two intellectual property bills on Wednesday, March 29, 2012 -- HR 4216 [LOC | WW], the "Foreign Counterfeit Prevention Act", and HR 3668 [LOC | WW], the "Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act of 2011".

HR 3668 would address the problem of counterfeit drugs, some of which are sold through the web sites dedicated to infringing activity that were targeted by the stalled the SOPA and PIPA bills. See, HR 3261 [LOC | WW], the "Stop Online Piracy Act" or "SOPA", and S 968 [LOC | WW], the "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011", "PROTECT IP Act", or "PIPA".

HR 4216 would enable Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to share information with, and thereby obtain assistance from, rights holders and injured parties regarding the importation of infringing products and circumvention devices. A similar provision was included as Section 8 of the stalled PIPA.

HR 3668 and Increased Penalties for Trafficking in Counterfeit Drugs. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) introduced HR 3668 on December 14, 2011. See also, HR 3468 [LOC | WW], introduced by Rep. Meehan on November 17, 2011. He is not a member of the HJC. However, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), co-sponsor of the bill, is a member.

The Senate passed its version of this bill on March 8, 2012, by voice vote. See, S 1886 [LOC | WW], also titled the "Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act". See also, story titled "Senate Approves Bill to Increase Penalties for Trafficking in Counterfeit Drugs", in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,348, March 7, 2012.

HR 3668 and S 1886 are simple bills that would merely amend 18 U.S.C. § 2320(b) to increase penalties for trafficking of counterfeit drugs. They would increase the maximum penalties for individuals to $4 Million fines, and 20 years in prison. For corporations, the maximum fine would be raised to $10 Million.

Currently, the statute imposes the same maximum penalties for trafficking in counterfeit drugs and trafficking in counterfeit clothes and fashion accessories.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) discussed S 1886 in the context of Google and online sales of counterfeit drugs in the Senate, and at a SJC meeting. He said that "we have taken steps to advance legislation to prevent the online sale of counterfeit drugs with the PROTECT IP Act."

Sen. Leahy, who is the lead sponsor of both S 1886 and the PIPA, added that "Unfortunately, some of the same large companies that through their businesses make money out of selling these drugs that end up killing Americans, were among those who tried to block, and did block, at least temporarily, the PROTECT IP Act. I hope that maybe people will start thinking about what is best for the American people, and not just what is best for their bottom line".

HR 4216 and Cooperation Between CBP and Rights Holders. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) introduced HR 4216 three days ago, on March 20, 2012.

This bill would amend the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1905, to allow the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to share information and samples with rights holders and injured parties regarding infringement and circumvention devices.

See, related story in this issue titled "Rep. Poe and Rep. Chabot Introduce Bill to Allow Customs to Share Information with Rights Holders".

The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, 2012, at 10:00 AM.

3/20. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) introduced HR 4216 [LOC | WW], the "Foreign Counterfeit Prevention Act", a bill to allow Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to share information with, and obtain assistance from, rights holders and other parties affected by importation of possibly infringing products and circumvention devices.

Pep. Poe (at right) stated in a release that "Right now, CBP officers are on the front lines of trade enforcement, but they are not allowed to share information with the people most knowledgeable about the authenticity of their products -- the right holders"

"Instead, they are faced with the nearly impossible task of inspecting all of the counterfeit and potentially dangerous goods -- from pharmaceutical drugs to movies, blow dryers and video games, to determine what is genuine and what is counterfeit. We are setting them up for failure. This broken system is hurting American designers and manufacturers", said Rep. Poe.

The problem, according to Rep. Poe and Rep. Chabot, is the CBP's interpretation of the Trade Secrets Act, which is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1905.

Section 1905 is a broad criminal prohibition of disclosure of information by officers or employees of the federal government of certain trade secrets, proprietary information, and certain confidential commercial data that they obtain in the course of investigations.

CBP officials obtain information about importation of possibly copyright and trademark infringing products and circumvention devices banned by 17 U.S.C. § 1201. This bill makes clear that the CBP can forward such information, and samples, to the rights holders and other injured parties. Such sharing would enable rights holders to assist the CBP.

The CBP has construed the statute to prohibit it from giving rights holders information about, and samples of, infringing goods and circumvention devices.

Currently, the statute provides as follows: "Whoever, being an officer or employee of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, any person acting on behalf of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or agent of the Department of Justice as defined in the Antitrust Civil Process Act (15 U.S.C. 1311–1314), or being an employee of a private sector organization who is or was assigned to an agency under chapter 37 of title 5, publishes, divulges, discloses, or makes known in any manner or to any extent not authorized by law any information coming to him in the course of his employment or official duties or by reason of any examination or investigation made by, or return, report or record made to or filed with, such department or agency or officer or employee thereof, which information concerns or relates to the trade secrets, processes, operations, style of work, or apparatus, or to the identity, confidential statistical data, amount or source of any income, profits, losses, or expenditures of any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or association; or permits any income return or copy thereof or any book containing any abstract or particulars thereof to be seen or examined by any person except as provided by law; shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and shall be removed from office or employment." (Parentheses in original.)

This bill provides that it is not a violation of § 1905 for the CBP, "at the time that merchandise is presented for examination and thereafter, to provide the owner of a copyright or a registered mark, or any person who may be injured by a violation of section 1201 of title 17, United States Code--
  (1) any information appearing on the merchandise, including its retail packaging;
  (2) a sample of such merchandise and its retail packaging; or
  (3) digital images of such merchandise and its retail packaging,
as it was presented to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, without redaction, whether imported into or exported from the United States, or attempted to be exported from the United States, for the purposes of determining whether the merchandise or its retail packaging infringes the copyright, bears or consists of a counterfeit mark of the registered mark, or is a violation" of § 1201.

It also provides that it is not a violation of § 1905 for the CBP, "after a determination is made that merchandise is in violation" of § 1201, to provide information enumerated by the bill "to persons injured by such violation".

This bill is similar to Title VI of both S 1866 [LOC | WW] and HR 3476 [LOC | WW], both titled the "American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment, and Entrepreneurship Act" or "AGREE Act".

3/23. T-Mobile USA closed seven call centers in the U.S. See, story titled "T-Mobile to close third of US call-centres" in Financial Times, March 23, 2012, by Paul Taylor.

The FT wrote that "Deutsche Telekom's struggling T-Mobile USA unit is to close almost a third of its US call-centres and eliminate a net 1,900 jobs as part of an effort to cut costs in the face of a decline in subscribers."

AT&T seized the occasion to criticize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the manner in which is reviewed and condemned the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA last year. That proceeding was WT Docket No. 11-65.

AT&T's Jim Cicconi stated in a release that "Yesterday, T-Mobile made the sad announcement that it would be closing seven call centers, laying off thousands of workers, and that more layoff announcements may follow. Normally, we’d not comment on something like this. But I feel this is an exception for one big reason -- only a few months ago AT&T promised to preserve these very same call centers and jobs if our merger was approved. We also predicted that if the merger failed, T-Mobile would be forced into major layoffs."

Cicconi continued that "At that time, the current FCC not only rejected our pledges and predictions, they also questioned our credibility. The FCC argued that the merger would cost jobs, not preserve them, and that rejecting it would save jobs. In short, the FCC said they were right, we were wrong, and did so in an aggressive and adamant way."

AT&T had represented to the FCC in its merger review proceeding that "T-Mobile non-management employees whose job functions are no longer required because of the merger will be offered another position in the combined company" and the merger "will not result in any job losses for U.S.-based wireless call center employees of T-Mobile or AT&T who are on the payroll when the merger closes".

On about December 1, 2011, the FCC released a document [157 pages PDF scan in 20 MB] titled "Staff Analysis and Findings". The Commission did not vote to adopt this document, or to reject the merger or the license transfers associated with the merger. However, this document roundly criticized the proposed merger, and AT&T and T-Mobile's arguments.

This document discussed the likely impact of the proposed merger on employment in paragraphs 259-265. The FCC did not actually reject or accept AT&T's representation that it would not lay off call center employees. Rather, it argued that the commitment was not significant because call centers have high turnover. See, Paragraph 263, and footnotes.

See also, stories titled "FCC Staff Releases Items in AT&T T-Mobile Merger Proceeding" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,315, November 29, 2011, and "Cicconi Calls Genachowski's Staff Report on AT&T T-Mobile Merger an Advocacy Piece" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,317, December 1, 2011.

Cicconi stated that "Rarely are a regulatory agency's predictive judgments proven so wrong so fast. But for the government's decision, centers now being closed would be staying open, workers now facing layoffs would have job guarantees, and communities facing turmoil would have security."

Cicconi wrote that one lesson of this is the importance of "regulatory humility". He said that "The FCC may consider itself an expert agency on telecom, but it is not omniscient. And when it ventures far afield from technical issues, and into judgments about employment or predictions about business decisions, it has often been wildly wrong.

He said that the other lesson is that when the government is wrong, "the price of a bad decision is too often paid by someone else."

Gigi Sohn, head of the Public Knowledge (PK), which opposed the merger, stated in a release that "It was truly unfortunate that a top AT&T official blamed some layoffs at T-Mobile on the government's blocking of AT&T's takeover of its competitor. T-Mobile started losing customers and distributors when the takeover started. Their ads and marketing were frozen as the deal dragged on, and customers left. Now they face getting those customers back and investing in their network."

3/23. President Obama announced that the U.S. is nominating Jim Yong Kim, President of Dartmouth College, to be President of the World Bank. The current President is Robert Zoellick, former U.S. Trade Representative. See, White House news office release. Historically, World Bank Presidents have been U.S. citizens.

3/22. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the appointment of 14 members to the FCC's Technical Advisory Board for First Responder Interoperability. See, FCC release.

3/23. The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCESRC) released a paper [71 pages in PDF] titled "The Chinese Communist Party and Its Emerging Next-Generation Leaders". The author is the USCESRC's John Dotson.

3/19. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Department of the Treasury published a notice in the Federal Register that announces, describes, recites, and requests comments on, the USCBP's interim rules that implement the preferential tariff treatment and other customs related provisions of the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement. The deadline to submit comments to the USCBP is May 18, 2012. The effective date of these interim rules is March 15, 2012. See, Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 53, Monday, March 19, 2012, at Pages 15943-15960.

3/16. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) in which it requests comments regarding (1) potential revocation of competitive need limitations (CNL) waivers, (2) possible de minimis CNL waivers, and (3) possible redesignations of  articles currently not eligible for GSP benefits because they previously exceeded the CNL thresholds.  The deadline to submit comments is 5:00 PM on April 6, 2012. See, FR, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Pages 15839-15841.

Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and a subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year for a single recipient. There are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients.

Free one month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free subscriptions are available for federal elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and executive branch. The TLJ web site is free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert are not published in the web site until two months after writing.

For information about subscriptions, see subscription information page.

Tech Law Journal now accepts credit card payments. See, TLJ credit card payments page.

TLJ is published by David Carney
Contact: 202-364-8882.
carney at techlawjournal dot com
3034 Newark St. NW, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998-2012 David Carney. All rights reserved.

The House will not meet.

The Senate will not meet.

Supreme Court conference day. See, calendar. Closed.

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Department of Labor's (DOL) National Advisory Committee for Labor
Provisions of U.S. Free Trade Agreements will meet. Open to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 43, Monday, March 5, 2012, at Page 13153. Location: DOL, 200 Constitution Ave., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Internet Caucus will host a panel discussion titled "Mobile Phone Wallets and Payments". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation), Mark Egerman (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), Suzanne Martindale (Consumers Union), Steve Mott (BetterBuyDesign), and Mark MacCarthy (Software and Information Industry Association). Register by contacting the Internet Caucus at rsvp at netcaucus dot org or 202-407-8829. Location: Room 2226, Rayburn Building.

Day two of a two day event hosted by the Air Force Association (ASA) titled "Cyber Futures Conference and Technology Exposition". See, notice. Location: Gaylord National Hotel, Maryland Ballroom, 201 Waterfront St.Oxen Hill, MD.

Deadline to submit written statements to the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission in connection with its March 26, 2012, hearing titled "Developments in China's Nuclear and Cyber Programs". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 49, Tuesday, March 13, 2012, at Pages 14859-14860.

9:00 AM - 2:30 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Youth Law Fair. Privacy Awareness: Managing Social Media Networks". This free event is intended for students and parents. Registration closed by early February. The speakers will be Judge Melvin Wright (DC Superior Court), Curtis Etherly (Coca-Cola), and Marsali Hankcock (iKeepSafe). See, DC Bar notice and registration page. For more information, call 202-626-3463. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: DC Superior Court, Room 3300, 500 Indiana Ave., NW.

The House will meet at 12:00 NOON. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 PM.

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM. It will resume consideration of S 2204 [LOC | WW], a tax bill pertaining to coal, biofuels, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, and oil companies.

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a hearing titled "Developments in China's Nuclear and Cyber Programs". The deadline to submit written statements is March 23. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 49, Tuesday, March 13, 2012, at Pages 14859-14860. Location: Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, VA.

POSTPONED. 12:30 - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host a brown bag lunch titled "The Impact of the New Legislation on Public Safety Communications". Location: Harris Corporation, Suite 850E, 600 Maryland Ave., SW.

5:00 PM. The House Rules Committee (HRC) will meet to adopt a rule for consideration of HR 3309 [LOC | WW], the "Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2012". See, notice. See, stories titled "House Commerce Committee Approves FCC Reform Bills", "Amendment by Amendment Summary of Mark Up of HR 3309", and "Summary of HR 3309, the FCC Process Reform Act " in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,345, March 6, 2012. Location: Room H-313, Capitol Building.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in response to its request for comments in its wide ranging private sector data privacy inquiry. The NTIA seeks comments regarding "substantive consumer data privacy issues that warrant the development of legally enforceable codes of conduct, as well as procedures to foster the development of these codes". See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 43, Monday, March 5, 2012, at Pages 13098-13101.

Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Census Block Eligibility Challenges to the FCC's February 2, 2012, Public Notice (DA 12-121) regarding Auction 901 (AU Docket No. 12-25), scheduled to begin on September 27, 2012. This is the FCC's reverse auction to give $300 Million in universal service subsidies to carriers that commit to provide 3G or better mobile voice and broadband services where such service is unavailable. The FCC calls this expansion of universal service programs "Mobility Fund Phase I Support". See also, FCC's February 2, 2012, Public Notice (DA 12-121), and notice in the Federal Register (FR), Vol. 77, No. 28, Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7152-7162; FCC's February 10, 2012, Public Notice (DA 12-187), and notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 33, Friday, February 17, 2012, at Pages 9655-9656; and FCC's February 16, 2012, Public Notice (DA 12-236) extending comment deadlines, extension notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 37, Friday, February 24, 2012, at Pages 11115-11116.

Deadline to submit nominations to the Department of Commerce's (DOC) International Trade Administration (ITA) for membership on the U.S.-India CEO Forum. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 28, Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pages 7132-7133. This notice does not set a deadline date. Rather it states, "45 days after publication of this Notice".

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). The agenda includes an update on Exascale computing and the Magellan Report for Cloud Computing in Science [170 pages in PDF]. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, 2012, at Page 12823. Location: American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2000 Florida Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "IT Supply Chain Security: Review of Government and Industry Efforts". See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Science Committee's (HSC) Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation will hold a hearing titled "Fostering the U.S. Competitive Edge". See, notice. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security will hold a hearing titled "The Economic Imperative for Promoting International Travel to the United States". The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

12:15 - 1:45 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will host a lunch will host an event titled "The Road Ahead for Spectrum". It will address the spectrum provisions of HR 3630, [LOC | WW], which President Obama signed into law on February 22, 2012. See, stories titled "House and Senate Negotiators Reach Agreement on Spectrum Legislation", "Summary of Spectrum Bill", and "Reaction to Spectrum Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,339, February 17, 2012, and story titled "Obama Signs Spectrum Bill into Law" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,345, February 23, 2011. The speakers will be Bill Lake (Chief of the FCC's Media Bureau), Rick Kaplan (Chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau), Jennifer Manner (Deputy Chief of the FCC's Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau), Karl Nebbia (Associate Administrator of the NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management), and Mark Brennan (Hogan Lovells). The price to attend is $17. Lunch will be served. Registrations and cancellations due by 12:00 NOON on Friday, March 23, 2012. The FCBA states that this is an FCBA event. Location: Wiley Rein, 1776 K St., NW.

2:00 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) will meet to mark up bills, including HR 3605 [LOC | WW], the "Global Online Freedom Act of 2011". See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "How to Protect and Enforce Trademark Rights". The speakers will be Steven Hollman (Hogan Lovells) and Shauna Wertheim (Marbury Law Group). The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. The DC Bar has a history of barring reporters from its events. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a panel discussion titled "Transforming Higher Education with IT". The speakers will be Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Stephen Ruth (George Mason University's School of Public Policy), and Steve Crawford (George Washington University's Institute of Public Policy). See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC: Suite 610, 1101 K St., NW.

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day two of a two day meeting of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). The agenda includes an update on Exascale computing and the Magellan Report for Cloud Computing in Science [170 pages in PDF]. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, 2012, at Page 12823. Location: American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2000 Florida Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on several bills, including HR 4216 [LOC | WW], the "Foreign Counterfeit Prevention Act", and HR  3668 [LOC | WW], the "Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act of 2011". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing titled "Cybersecurity: Threats to Communications Networks and Public-Sector Responses". See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) will hold a hearing titled "Investigating the Chinese Threat, Part One: Military and Economic Aggression". The witnesses will be Dean Cheng (Heritage Foundation), John Tkacik (International Assessment and Strategy Center), and Larry Wortzel (Commissioner, US-China Economic and Security Review Commission). See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Homeland Security and Emergency Communications Committee will host a lunch. The speaker will be Jamie Barnett, Chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. Registration is required by Wednesday, March 21. Location: Monet Ballroom, L’Enfant Plaza Hotel, 480 L'Enfant Plaza, SW.

1:00 - 2:00 PM. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board's (NSB) Committee on Strategy and Budget Task Force on Data Policies will meet to discuss "data policies". The meeting will be teleconferenced. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 50, Wednesday, March 14, 2012, at Page 15141. Location: Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 50, Wednesday, March 14, 2012, at Page 15141. Location: 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA.

1:00 - 4:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Technological Advisory Council will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, 2012, at Page 12839. Location: FCC, 445 12th St.,  SW.

2:00 PM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will hold a hearing on the FY 2013 budget for the Judiciary. See, notice. Location: Room 2359, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing titled "Nominations". See, notice. The SJC will webcast this event. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

2:30 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee's (HFAC) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "The Price of Public Diplomacy with China". The witnesses will be Steven Mosher (Population Research Institute), Kai Chen, and Greg Autry. See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

9:30 AM - 2:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) North American Numbering Council (NANC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 42, Friday, March 2, 2012, at Pages 12839-12840. Location: Room 5-C162, FCC, 445 12th St., SW.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of the nominations of Richard Taranto to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir), Robin Rosenbaum to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (SDFl), and Gershwin Drain to be a Judge for the U.S. District Court (EDMich). The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade will hold a hearing tilted "Balancing Privacy and Innovation: Does the President's Proposal Tip the Scale?". See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Technology Advisory Committee will meet. The agenda includes "automated and high frequency trading, final recommendations of the subcommittee on data standardization, and market structure and technology issues relating to credit limit checks". Written comments are due by March 28. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Page 15737. Location: CFTC, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st St., NW.

1:00 PM. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing to assist it in preparing its 2011 Annual GSP Product Review. The hearing will cover only the petitions for new products and CNL waivers that have been previously submitted and accepted for review in the 2011 GSP Annual Review. Post hearing comments are due by 5:00 PM on April 16, 2012. See, original notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 34, Tuesday, February 21, 2012, at Pages 10034-10036. See also, notice of change of date in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 52, Friday, March 16, 2012, at Page 15841. Location: OUSTR, 600 17th St., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

TIME? The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a hearing titled "European Union Relations and Implications for the U.S.". Location: :__.

Supreme Court conference day. See, calendar. Closed.

RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL 13. 12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Robert McDowell will speak. Free. Brown bag lunch. The FCBA states that this is an FCBA event of its Young Lawyers Committee. Location: FCC, 8th floor South Conference Room, 445 12th St., SW.

Possible date for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) to release its annual report titled "National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers".