The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) has issued two proposed rules amending the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to impose expansive new controls on US persons’ activities in connection with non-US military, security, and intelligence end users and end uses, as well as new end user-, end use-, and list-based controls applicable to items subject to the EAR. These new controls would apply to more categories of activities and end users/end…
On July 10, 2024, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued guidance on addressing the risks of diversion of items subject to US export controls to countries or parties of concern (the “Guidance”). The Guidance summarizes mechanisms that BIS uses to notify companies and universities about parties that present diversion risks and that do not appear on its screening lists, as well the level of due diligence BIS expects in…
Companies caught in the eye of the sanctions enforcement storm can only begin to effectively weather it by conducting a thorough internal investigation. These investigations are multifaceted (see our other blog posts in this series here), but an essential component is often conducting interviews. Interviews are a fundamental part of cross-border sanctions investigations that combine practical and legal challenges. Organizing them effectively requires an appreciation of practices in different jurisdictions, including local laws, customs, and…
Bipartisan legislation advancing in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives known as the “BIOSECURE Act” (“the Act”) has the potential to significantly restrict the ability of biotechnology companies to collaborate with certain Chinese companies without losing the ability to contract with the U.S. government. Following the same model that was used to target Chinese telecommunications companies in the late 2010s, the Act would prohibit federal “executive agencies” from contracting with or extending…