On April 18, 2023, Matthew S. Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”), issued a memorandum titled “Clarifying Our Policy Regarding Voluntary Self-Disclosures and Disclosures Concerning Others” (the “VSD Policy Memorandum”) to clarify and announce BIS’ policies concerning voluntary self-disclosures (“VSDs”) of Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) violations and disclosures of possible EAR violations committed by third parties. The VSD Policy Memorandum builds on Assistant Secretary…
On January 5, 2023, President Biden signed the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act into law. This law seeks to deter the theft of US intellectual property by non-US actors by threatening to impose economic sanctions on those engaged in trade secrets theft. This law adds to existing measures available under US law, such as criminal prosecution, civil lawsuits, and/or designation to a US restricted parties list such as the Entity List (maintained by the US…
On November 22, 2022, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) published a new determination pursuant to Executive Order 14071 of April 6, 2022 (“EO 14071”) – “Determination Pursuant to Section 1 (a)(ii) of EO 14071” (“Determination”). The Determination implements the price cap policy for Russian crude oil, as anticipated based on OFAC’s September 2022 preliminary guidance related to the implementation of the policy banning the provision of services related to…
On September 15, 2022, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”) to expand the existing sanctions against Russia and Belarus under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). The purpose of the Final Rule is to “protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by further restricting Russia’s access to items that it needs to support its military capabilities.” The Final Rule took effect on September…