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Trade Regulatory Actions

Safeguard Actions

Section 201: "Escape Clause"

Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 (known as the "Escape Clause") provides U.S. industries with temporary, comprehensive relief from imports that are entering the country at a rate that causes or threatens to cause serious injury. ECS has aided domestic industries and importers in a large portion of all U.S. Escape Clause cases, testifying before and providing economic analysis to the ITC as well as preparing analyses for submission to the Executive Branch.

Section 421: China Safeguards

China's accession to the WTO included transitional remedies to address import surges into other countries that lead to market disruption. In the United States, the relevant safeguard provision was enacted as Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 (as amended). If the ITC makes an affirmative determination to market disruption, the ITC recommends a remedy to the President, who can accept, modify, or reject the remedy recommendation. A Section 421 proceeding includes both an ITC investigation as well as executive branch consideration including an inter-agency hearing under the direction of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. ECS has participated in three Section 421 proceedings, as of this writing.

Click here for a list of ECS' experience in Safeguards proceedings.

Other Trade Regulatory Actions

Section 301: Unfair Trade Practices

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1994, as amended, permits the U.S. government to retaliate against certain foreign unfair trade practices that "burden or restrict U.S. trade," particularly in export markets. ECS has provided economic analysis and expert testimony in several Section 301 cases.

Section 337: Intellectual Property Infringement

Under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. ยง 1337), the U.S. International Trade Commission conducts investigations into allegations of certain unfair practices in import trade. Section 337 declares the infringement of certain statutory intellectual property rights and other forms of unfair competition in import trade to be unlawful practices. Most Section 337 investigations involve allegations of patent or registered trademark infringement, with others involve other forms of unfair competition, including misappropriation of trade secrets.

Section 337 investigations generally involve economic analysis for two purposes: (1) Domestic industry: Whether or not there exists a domestic industry exploiting the intellectual property in suit, and (2) Remedy: Whether the exclusion from the United States of downstream products containing infringing articles is necessary to provide adequate remedy to the domestic industry. An analysis of whether the infringing articles are a cause of economic injury to a U.S. industry may be required in proceedings involving alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. In 337 investigations, ECS provides clients with expert reports and/or rebuttal reports on domestic industry, remedy, and injury, as well as witness statements and trial testimony.

Click here for a list of ECS' experience in Section 337 proceedings.

 

Relevant ECS Personnel - Trade Regulatory Actions:

Bruce Malashevich [bio ][email]
Kenneth Button [bio ][email]
Kathryn Kobe [bio ][email]

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