Effective December 16, 2022, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Final Rule adding 36 Chinse entities to BIS’s Entity List. These additions are intended to further restrict China’s “ability to leverage artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and other powerful, commercially available technologies for military modernization and human rights abuses,” according
Human Rights
Treasury Sanctions Network of Chinese Fishing Vessels for Serious Human Rights Abuses
On December 9, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two Chinese individuals and a vast network fishing vessels they control, including Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd. (PME) and Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd. (Dalian), for perpetrating serious human rights abuses and corruption via illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Although…
USTR Seeks Comments to Develop Trade Strategy on Forced Labor
On July 6, 2022, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a notice seeking public comments to assist in the development of a forced labor trade strategy. The notice indicates that the strategy “will identify priorities and establish an action plan for utilizing existing and potential new trade tools to combat forced labor…
U.S. and G7 Leaders Commit to Address China’s Unfair Trade Practices
During meetings among the G7 leaders on June 28, 2022, President Joseph Biden and the other G7 leaders committed to a “unified approach to confront” China’s trade-distorting industrial directives. According to a White House Fact Sheet, such actions will include:
- sharing insights and best practices to identify, monitor and minimize vulnerabilities and logistic bottlenecks
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Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Effective June 21; DHS and CBP Issue Highly Anticipated Guidance for Importers
Key Notes:
- Effective June 21, 2022, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) establishes a rebuttable presumption that all goods produced, mined or manufactured in the Xinjiang region of China or by certain entities designated to the UFLPA Entity List are produced with forced labor and prohibited from entry into the United States.
- The prohibition
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New Multiagency Business Advisory on Heightened Risk of Doing Business in Burma
Key Notes:
- Several federal agencies recently released a business advisory emphasizing the heightened risk of doing business in Burma.
- Four key areas of risk were identified: (1) state-owned enterprises (SOEs); (2) gems and precious metals; (3) real estate and construction projects; and (4) arms, military equipment, and related activities.
- U.S. businesses with supply chains tied
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DHS Seeks Public Comment on Methods to Prevent the Importation of Goods Originating from Forced Labor in China
On January 24, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security, on behalf of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (Task Force), issued a request for public comments on “how best to ensure that goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor in the People’s Republic of China are…
Biden Signs Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
Key Notes:
- President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law on December 23, 2021 to continue efforts to prevent the importation into the United States of goods produced in whole or in part with forced labor in China.
- The Act creates a rebuttable presumption that all goods produced in whole or in
…
OFAC Identifies Eight Chinese Companies as Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies
On December 16, 2021, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it was placing another eight Chinese technology firms on its Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List (CMIC List). This action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13959 (as amended by Executive Order 14032), which prohibits U.S. persons from conducting…
BIS and DDTC Revise Export Controls for Cambodia
On December 9, 2021, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced that it was amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to apply more restrictive treatment to exports and reexports to, and transfers within, Cambodia of items subject to the EAR. BIS stated that it is taking this action “to address recent…