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…
On Saturday, April 20, 2024, after months of negotiations and many twists and turns, the US House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act (H.R. 8038). This bill, which is the fourth pillar of a broader foreign aid package to assist Israel, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific, contains numerous sanctions and trade-related national security measures. After each of the four foreign security bills were passed on Saturday, they were combined into one package…
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…
Just before the holidays, President Biden signed two bills passed in the final days of the last Congress that contain a number of provisions with implications for sanctions, export controls, and supply chain restrictions: On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for Fiscal Year 2023 (P.L. 117-263). The measure includes a number of provisions relating to US export controls, sanctions, and related subjects, including additional sanctions targeting…