On January 26, 2022, the US Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce, Labor, Homeland Security and the Office of the US Trade Representative (“USTR”) issued a joint advisory (the “Advisory”) cautioning businesses, financial institutions, investors, consultants, research service providers, etc. of the heightened risks associated with doing business in Burma/Myanmar, especially wherever the Myanmar military is involved. This is a continuation of US Government’s actions to address the situation in Myanmar. Please see our blog posts…
On February 3, 2022, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published a final rule reorganizing, clarifying, and correcting the traditional and Entity List foreign-direct product rules (“FDP Rules”) in the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). This rule does not change the substantive scope of the FDP Rules, but provides certain helpful clarifications. We previously blogged about the FDP Rules here. Reorganization: Consolidation of the FDP Rules into EAR Part 734.9 The FDP Rules…
On December 10, 2021, at the Summit for Democracy, the U.S., Australia, Denmark, and Norway, released a Joint Statement announcing an Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative (“the Initiative”) to curb the misuse of technologies by certain governments. The Initiative aims to combat digital authoritarianism in countries where software and advanced surveillance technologies have been used to hack the communications of political opponents and journalists, shape public opinion, and censor information the government deems threatening. In…
On December 16, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated eight Chinese tech companies to the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies (“NS-CMIC”) list pursuant to Executive Order 13959, as amended by Executive Order 14032, for their alleged involvement in supporting surveillance of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang, China. On the next day, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) also added 37 new parties to the…