On July 26, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a component of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued its first periodic report examining the scientific and technical literature with respect to a possible link between the September 11 World Trade Center (WTC) attacks and the incidence of cancer. NIOSH concluded […]

On July 15, the Department of State issued a statement concerning implementation of section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). Section 1502 pertains to reporting requirements established for certain companies on whether they use certain minerals sourced from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that have helped […]

On June 27, the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued two new sets of guidance on compliance with United Kingdom competition law. The OFT, which worked with business groups to develop the new guidance, stated in a press release that the first guide, How Your Business Can Achieve Compliance, “is aimed at businesses […]

On July 14, the General Accountability Office issued a report setting forth reporting by 11 regulatory agencies on the fiscal resources they estimated to be available to implement regulatory reform under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. The report noted that the amount of new funding the agencies reported as associated with implementing Dodd-Frank varied […]

On July 12, in L’Oreal SA v. eBay International AG, Case C-324/09, the European Court of Justice issued a decision in which it indicated that online auction services such as eBay may be liable when users of such services offer for sale goods that infringe on intellectual property rights. The case came to the European […]

On July 11, President Obama issued an Executive Order that directs independent regulatory agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, to take — as Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein stated in his White House blog […]

On July 7, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission announced that they “have made changes to reduce the filing burden and streamline the form parties must file when seeking antitrust clearance of proposed mergers and acquisitions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act and the Premerger Notification Rules.” According to the Justice […]

On July 27, Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Jon Leibowitz signed an antitrust memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s three antitrust agencies to promote communication and cooperation among the agencies in the two countries. The MOU sets out a two-part framework for […]

On June 17, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice issued an updated Policy Guide to Merger Remedies. The Guide, which updates the Antitrust Division’s 2004 guidance, states that “it is intended to provide guidance to Antitrust Division staff in their work analyzing proposed remedies for mergers.” It includes material on key principles in […]

On July 7, an article on Law 360 reported that lntellectual property litigation increased in the first half of 2011 compared to the first half of 2010. Using data from Pacer, the electronic case data system for the federal courts, the article noted that while litigation across practice areas increased only slightly by about 1.3 […]

On July 6, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is publishing a proposed rulemaking to adopt the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission standards approved by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for aircraft gas turbine engines. Comments will be accepted for 60 days after the date that the proposal is published […]

On July 6, the vice-president and general manager of the Pelican Refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana to federal negligent endangerment charges under the Clean Air Act. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, the defendant, who oversaw operations at the Lake […]

The Penn Program on Regulation has just launched a new blog, RegBlog. Housed at Penn Law and staffed by law and graduate students from multiple schools at Penn, RegBlog provides regulatory news, analysis, and opinion. Contributors include staff members, scholars, practitioners, and others interested in regulatory developments. Anyone interested in contacting RegBlog should email the […]

On April 28, acccording to a notice by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), ACUS will hold a regulatory Workshop entitled, “Going Global – The Case for U.S. Regulatory Leadership on Trade and Enforcement.” The Workshop will take place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1615 I Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. from 8:30 […]

The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) has published its scheduled Committee public meetings in April. Upcoming public meetings include: – Committee on Administration and Management: Government Contractor EthicsMonday, April 18, 2011, from 2p.m. to 5 p.m. – Committee on Rulemaking: E-rulemaking—Legal IssuesWednesday, April 20, 2011, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. – Committee […]