On Friday, August 18, 2017, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) formally initiated a Section 301 investigation into China’s intellectual property practices. The decision to open the investigation came from President Trump’s executive memorandum on August 14, 2017. For more information on the executive memorandum, please see our recent post.

According to the USTR’s Federal Register notice, the “United States Trade Representative will determine within 12 months from the date of initiation of the investigation whether any act, policy, or practice described in section 301 of the Trade Acts exists and, if that determination is affirmative, what action, if any, to take.”

The Section 301 Committee is holding a public hearing and seeking comments in connection with this investigation. Written comments and requests to appear at the hearing are due on Thursday, September 28, 2017. The hearing will be in the main hearing room at the U.S. International Trade Commission on October 10, 2017 at 9:30am.

We expect that there will be testimony by U.S. companies who believe that they have been adversely affected by Chinese IP violations or forced to reveal proprietary information in order to sell goods or services in China.

For more information on import issues, please contact Jeffrey Neeley.