October 2020

On October 29, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Federal Register notice announcing further amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to revise the license review policy for items controlled for national security reasons destined to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Venezuela or the Russian Federation (Russia).…

On October 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a final rule in the Federal Register amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) to remove from the scope of generally authorized remittances any transactions involving “entities or subentities” identified on the U.S. Department of State’s Cuba Restricted…

On October 20, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a finding determining that stevia extracts and derivatives, mined, produced, or manufactured in the People’s Republic of China (China) by the Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agriculture, Industry, and Trade Co., Ltd. (Baoanzhao) with the use of convict, forced or indentured labor, are being,…

On October 19, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion before the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) in the matter of HMTX Industries LLC, et al. v. United States of America, et al. asking that the CIT adopt case management procedures to administer not only this case but also the approximately 3,600…

On October 19, 2020, the United States and Brazil agreed to an updated protocol for the 2011 Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ATEC) with three new annexes:  Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation, Good Regulatory Practices, and Anticorruption.  U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the protocol “uses the existing ATEC to establish common standards…

On October 15, 2020, the White House released a report, “National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies,” outlining steps the United States will take to preserve its competitive edge in certain critical and emerging technologies. Noting in a statement the importance of U.S. dominance in the science and technology sectors, the White House…

On October 16, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a notice announcing that exporters may request six-month validity period extensions for export licenses that are currently due to expire on or before December 31, 2020. Acting Under Secretary for Industry and Security, Cordell Hull stated, “The streamlined process will…

On October 14, 2020, pursuant to the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (HKAA), the State Department submitted to Congress a report identifying foreign persons “who are materially contributing to, have materially contributed to, or attempt to materially contribute to the failure of the People’s Republic of China (China) to meet its obligations under the Sino-British Joint…

On October 13, 2020, a World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitrator ruled that the European Union (EU) may take countermeasures/implement retaliatory tariffs against the United States for illegal subsidies to Boeing. This ruling allows the EU to request authorization from the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to take countermeasures against the United States at a level…

Effective October 15, 2020, the Department of the Treasury’s September 15 final rule (“Rule”) will modify certain regulations of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) pursuant to the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA). In a previous blog post, we noted that the Rule would change the…