On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military overthrew the country’s democratically elected government and installed an army general as head of state, with a cadre of military officials and their allies running the government.
Continue Reading U.S. Imposes Sanctions Measures Targeting Myanmar Military Government
Key Takeaways:
In the last few weeks of former President Trump’s term in office, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) suspended its previous plans to impose tariffs on certain French luxury goods, as we discussed here and here.
Continue Reading USTR Suspends Tariffs on Certain French Luxury Goods: A Potential Shift in Trade Talks
→ The new National Security and Investment Bill expands the UK government’s powers to intercede in acquisitions of UK companies where it determines there is a potential national security threat.
→ The Bill creates a new government agency, the Investment Security Unit (ISU) to oversee foreign direct investment review, removing the power from the competition/antitrust regulator, the CMA.
→ Regulators will be able to “call in” transactions that were not notified but that the Secretary of State determines may pose a national security risk.
→ A mandatory notification will be introduced for certain sectors, including penalties for failure to notify, but the details of those requirements have not been completed.
Continue Reading CFIUK: The United Kingdom Introduces a New Mechanism for Foreign Direct Investment Screening
Over the past few weeks, we have been speculating on the international trends and tides we expect to see in the next four years under a new U.S. presidential administration. So that you can enjoy our prognostications (before our program gets greenlighted as a Netflix special) we provide here:
Continue Reading The Next Four Years in International Business
Contrary to some expectations, the Trump Administration Department of Justice imposed record penalties under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act from 2017 through 2020. But in each of those years, fewer and fewer new FCPA investigations were initiated. We expect the Biden Administration to continue the trend of increasing FCPA enforcement settlement values, while also increasing the pace of initiating new FCPA investigations. Anticorruption matters present some of the most severe threats to a company’s organizational integrity. Understanding the changing enforcement culture is an important component to addressing those threats.
Continue Reading The Next Four Years of FCPA Enforcement: What to Expect From the Biden Administration
On October 15, 2020, CFIUS will officially tie mandatory filings to U.S. export control regimes, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). While that change may draw a clearer line of what constitutes a mandatory filing, it also pulls your CFIUS review into the complex (and somewhat nerdy) world of export regulations.
Continue Reading Lend Me Your EARs: CFIUS Makes Export Controls a Trigger for Mandatory Filings
The UK government has now made a show of force in its foreign direct investment (FDI) reviews.
For the first time, the UK Secretary of State issued an order to prevent a transaction for raising public interest considerations. Specifically, the UK Government blocked the prospective deal on national security grounds. In the September 5, 2020 notice, the UK Government accepted commitments from Gardner Aerospace Holdings Limited (Gardner) to not proceed with its proposed acquisition of Impcross Limited (Impcross), a UK-based manufacturer of components for the aerospace and military aircraft industry.
Continue Reading CFIUK? The UK Brings Heavier Scrutiny to Its Foreign Investment Reviews
On September 19, 2020, China took a new strategic position in its ongoing trade confrontation with the United States. The Ministry of Commerce of the PRC (“MOFCOM”) issued Regulations on Unreliable Entity List (“UEL”) and drew wide public attention to the beginning of the PRC government’s retaliation against the Trump Administration’s recent restrictions on Chinese entities including Huawei, TikTok and WeChat. It is notable that MOFCOM deliberated with more than a year of internal discussion before implementing the UEL.
Continue Reading Certainties and Uncertainties Under China’s New Unreliable Entity List
On Saturday, two actions put a stop, at least temporarily, to the U.S. shutdown of the popular social media apps WeChat and TikTok.
Continue Reading Executive Orders on Pause: WeChat and TikTok Bans Temporarily Suspended
On August 28, 2020, China took its own swing in the fight over TikTok. The blow, however, may land right in the middle of U.S.-China technology research, collaboration, and innovation. New export regulations may require licenses from the Chinese government before researchers in China may share their technological advances with colleagues, counterparts, or customers in the United States.
Continue Reading China Expands Technology Export Controls: Fighting back on TikTok and Putting Your R&D at Risk
Hiring employees does not usually call to mind international trade compliance obligations. However, together U.S. export controls and anti-discrimination laws create a web that is overlooked or misunderstood by many types of employers of all sizes across many industries. Anti-discrimination laws prohibit unlawful citizenship status restrictions when hiring, and U.S. export controls prohibit disclosing controlled information to foreign nationals without authorization. Together, these law limit acceptable job descriptions and hiring practices.
Continue Reading Export Control HR Pitfalls To Avoid When Hiring