Timely Updates and Analysis on Key International Trade Law Issues
By: Thad McBride
As addressed in our September 27 blog, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was sued in U.S. District Court by Ralls Corp relating to the acquisition by Ralls of four Oregon companies whose assets consisted solely of windfarm development rights and to CFIUS’s determination to block the transaction.
On September 28, President Barack Obama did just that.
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Continue Reading CFIUS Update: President Blocks Ralls Transaction
By: Thad McBride and Cheryl Palmeri
As we have reported in recent months, the United States consistently has been taking steps to expand diplomatic and commercial relations with Myanmar. And in recent weeks, that effort has continued.
To begin with, on September 26, 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Myanmar President Thein Sein that the United States intends to ease its ban on imports from Myanmar. The import ban is the most significant remaining restriction on U.S. trade with Myanmar. Lifting it is unlikely to unleash a flood of imports into the United States from Myanmar, but it will nonetheless be an important step to demonstrate that the United States really is ready to establish normal – or close to normal – trading relations with Myanmar. …
Continue Reading Update on U.S.-Myanmar Relations: The Thaw Continues
By: Thad McBride
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has been sued. CFIUS is the U.S. government inter-agency committee that reviews foreign investment in the United States. (For more information about CFIUS, including its operations and recent actions, please look here.)
According to a filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Ralls Corp is requesting a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction to enjoin CFIUS from prohibiting Ralls from developing and operating a wind farm in Oregon. Ralls is owned by executives of Sany Group Co., a Chinese company that, among other things, manufactures wind turbine generators. In recent years, CFIUS has tended to be especially cautious with respect to transactions involving China.
By: Thad McBride
While the United States has long maintained sanctions on Iran and has expanded those sanctions several times recently, none of those recent actions has had such a direct impact on U.S. companies as the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act that President Obama signed into on August 10, 2012 (the “Act”). The Act creates new Iran sanctions, and provides for new sanctions on persons deemed to be involved in committing or supporting human rights abuses in Syria, including, in certain cases, non-Syrian parties.
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Continue Reading Iran, Syria Sanctions Strengthened by New U.S. Law
By: Reid Whitten and Cheryl Palmeri
On July 11, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued two general licenses lifting long-standing sanctions against Myanmar. The licenses were issued in response to historic reforms that have taken place in the country over the past year, the details of which we reported in this blog in February and May of this year.…
Continue Reading OFAC Authorizes the Exportation of Financial Services to and New Investment in Myanmar
By: Thad McBride, Reid Whitten, and Cheryl Palmeri
On May 21, the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a small but noteworthy enforcement settlement: a fine against a U.S. investment fund because the foreign subsidiary of that fund purchased Iranian securities. It appears that OFAC’s enforcement action was not based on “facilitation” of a prohibited transaction with Iran, but rather on the U.S. parent’s failure to maintain sufficient controls to prevent its foreign subsidiary from conferring an economic benefit to Iran. As a result, the U.S. investment manager, Genesis Asset Managers LLP (GAM US) will pay a civil penalty of $112,500. …
Continue Reading OFAC’s (Very) Long Arm: GAM Settlement May Illustrate the ITR’s Expanding Reach
By: Scott Maberry and Cheryl Palmeri
The U.S. government has taken another in a series of steps relaxing the sanctions it imposes against Myanmar, a country the Obama Administration still refers to by its pre-coup name, Burma. On April 17, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License No. 14-C (General License), authorizing certain financial transactions in support of humanitarian, religious, and other not-for-profit activities in Myanmar. This General License – which permits transactions previously prohibited under U.S. sanctions laws – is the U.S. government’s most recent move to scale back its restrictions on trade with Myanmar. …
Continue Reading Loosening Up: New Developments in Sanctions Against Myanmar
By: Thad McBride and Mark Jensen
Since July 1, 2010, when the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA) was enacted, there have been many developments under the law, as well as the recent passage of the complementary National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA). The following timeline provides a summary of key actions related to the laws and U.S. sanctions on Iran more generally.…
Continue Reading Peak Pressure: CISADA and NDAA Timeline
By: John M. Hynes
The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has issued welcome guidance for those wishing to provide personal communications services or software to individuals in Iran. On March 20, 2012, OFAC released interpretive guidance regarding the scope of the personal communications general and specific licenses found in Section 560.540 of the Iranian Transactions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 560 (“ITR”). On the same day, OFAC also revised the ITR definition of the term “entity owned or controlled by the Government of Iran”.
While the personal communications licenses remain limited in scope, OFAC’s new interpretive guidance should help exporters understand what specific services and software may be provided to individuals in Iran. …
Continue Reading OFAC Provides Much Needed Guidance for Anyone Wishing to Export Personal Communications Services or Software to Iran
By: Scott Maberry
As illustrated by three recent export enforcement actions, when armed government enforcement agents come to your door with PowerPoint slides, pay close attention. On March 8, 2012, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming announced settlements of three related cases involving illegal exports to Syria. The cases involved an increasingly common enforcement tool, the U.S. government “outreach” visit. …
Continue Reading Export Control Settlements Highlight the Need to Pay Attention During “Outreach” Visits
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