TIA urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to give small and medium-size companies (SMEs) more time to comply with provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Accounting regulations created by SOX have had a substantial impact on SMEs, and TIA said these agencies should extend the deadline for compliance with Section 404, which requires that all public companies provide a management report on internal controls and an auditor's attestation report on the effectiveness of these controls.

SOX was enacted as a protection for shareholders and investors, but compliance has resulted in many unintended costs, which are especially onerous for small companies in the United States . Auditing fees for SMEs under SOX have risen by as much as 92 percent, and these fees are believed to be a major reason SMEs have seen a 33 percent overall rise in operating costs.

The regulations proposed by the SEC and PCAOB would extend the compliance deadline for management's report until December 15, 2007, and the deadline for the auditor's attestation report until December 15, 2008 . Read TIA's February 26, 2007, filing at www.tiaonline.org/policy/publications/filings/documents/SOXComment022607_FINAL.pdf . For more information, please contact Becky Schwartz at rschwartz@tiaonline.org or (703) 907-7477.

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The United States is currently negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Republic of South Korea . If the agreement is passed, economists predict that the established trade flow between these two countries (valued at $72 billion) will increase 54% for American exports to Korea and 21% for Korean imports. The South Korea FTA will again push to the forefront a domestic debate: Are FTAs important to the United States Economy?

Since the end of World War II, the United States has generally followed three different approaches regarding foreign trade: multilateral, unilateral and bilateral. The multilateral approach adheres to the trading system rules contained in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its expanded body called the World Trade Organization (WTO). The unilateral approach uses trade retaliation, usually restricting trade partner's access to the U.S. market in order to halt offensive commercial practices. The third approach uses bilateral and regional negotiations to establish free trade agreements between two or more counties that agree to reduce or eliminate tariff and non tariff barriers on certain goods. These agreements are usually trade plus, meaning companies gain access beyond that achieved through GATT. The size and complexity of an FTA depends on the size and complexity of the economic relationship between the negotiating countries.

FTAs have become an important mechanism for opening markets, especially since the collapse of WTO trade negotiations last year. Since 2000, over 14 FTAs have been implemented or are currently under negotiation. The WTO reports that since 1995 they have been notified of over 100 FTAs around the globe. The first U.S. free trade agreement was signed in 1985 with Israel, and the largest, in terms of trade flow, is the 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). From 1993 to 2005, trade among NAFTA nations climbed 173 percent from $297 billion to $810 billion. In total, the countries (excluding the United states ) that are in current FTAs with the United States account for 7 percent of the global GDP and 42 percent of the U.S. domestic exports.

U.S. Information Communications Technology companies benefit significantly from FTAs. FTAs slash tariffs on a wide variety of goods and services and allow for increased market access for services that have been otherwise denied by governments. Tariffs on most goods, including any remaining tariffs on ICT-related products, will be completely eliminated. In addition, firms benefit from the reduction or removal of non tariff barriers such as licensing restrictions, onerous customs procedures, and lack of transparency.

International trade creates high-value jobs and benefits consumers in the form of lower prices and more choices. Manufactured exports support an estimated 5.2 million jobs in the United States, including 1 in 6 manufacturing jobs. Export growth to trade partners with FTAs implemented between 2001 and 2005 is twice as fast as with the rest of the world. With all the FTAs, currently in force or planned, ample opportunities exist for ICT companies to expand their products and services to foreign markets.

For more information, please contact Mike Nunes at mnunes@tiaonline.org or (703) 907-7725.

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TIA has offered the FCC suggestions on how to reconfigure portions of the public safety spectrum band to create more usable spectrum for public safety and wireless uses. TIA argued in comments filed with the FCC that secondary broadband use of the narrowband spectrum in the 700 MHz band could cause harmful interference to public safety voice communications.

A certain portion of the 700 MHz band to be used for public safety should be reconfigured to create contiguous narrowband blocks, which will make more efficient use of the spectrum, TIA said. These comments were submitted February 26 as part of the FCC's rulemaking procedure in the matter of Implementing a Nationwide, Broadband, Interoperable Public Safety Network in the 700 MHz Band . For more information, please contact Patrick Donovan at pdonovan@tiaonline.org or (703) 907-7739.

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TIA is hosting a trade education seminar in on May 15th at the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center in Atlanta . This event will be the first in a series of seminars TIA will be hosting in order to educate its members and other ICT companies about the benefits of exporting.

The May seminar will include a panel discussion on the basics of exporting, including an overview of the government resources available to small businesses. Other panels will specifically focus on doing business in Asian markets, including South Korea, Hong Kong, China and Thailand.

With respect to South Korea, its ICT sector is developing rapidly, fueled by infrastructure investment, the adoption of new technologies and consumer demand for new applications. Korean government reforms beginning in the late 1990s have facilitated foreign investment and attracted financial and intellectual capital, contributing to the sector's rapid growth. A new government policy implemented in 2004, together with the potential for further trade liberalization, will continue to grow the sector, making South Korea a promising destination for U.S. ICT products and services.

Government representatives from Hong Kong, China and Thailand will provide information on business opportunities, including demand trends, investment promotion, trade facilitation, and aftercare services.

For more information on attending and sponsoring this seminar, go to http://www.tiaonline.org/business/small/seminar_signup.cfm

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