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The United States and its allies are aiming to choke off the supplies that support the last vestiges of Russian industry. On May 19, 2023, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released new regulations implementing additional restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) as well as corrections and clarifications on existing controls for Russia and Belarus.[1] Those additions build on recent export control regulations issued on February 24, 2023 (which we discuss here) and significantly expand controls over items that can be used in even basic electronics and manufacturing. The new regulations continue BIS’s push to leave very little that may be sent into Russia from the United States.…

Continue Reading Everything but the Kitchen Sink (and Maybe That Too!): New Export Controls on Russia Cover Whole Categories of Low-Level Commercial Electronic and Mechanical Equipment

Between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing U.S. tensions with China, U.S. export controls are in the spotlight like never before. As if regulators have not already made it clear enough, recent statements and actions indicate that the enforcement crosshairs are squarely on the semiconductor industry.…

Continue Reading Watching the Detectives: Export Control Enforcement Trends Upward

Key Takeaways

  • New outbound investment controls likely to focus on semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing.
  • Biotechnology and battery technology investments overseas may not be subject to the upcoming proposed controls.

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Continue Reading New Year, New Development: Fewer Industries May be Affected by Proposed Outbound Investment Controls (Reverse CFIUS)

As you may have heard here (and here and here), in October 2022, the United States issued sweeping measures aimed at the semiconductor industry in China. The new regulations restrict the export of semiconductors and related technology, manufacturing equipment, software, and even U.S.-person support, to China. The regulations are part of a high-stakes chess match between the United States and China, as they compete for technological and economic dominance. One important result of this struggle is that the global semiconductor industry is being squeezed by the regulatory and geopolitical pressure exerted by both sides.…

Continue Reading The New Containment: How the Semiconductor Industry Came to Be at the Heart of the Technological Cold War

As we close out a wild year for international trade regulation,[1] after hearing much talk about outbound investment review mechanisms, we may see a final dramatic change before the ball drops. Since the summer, we have talked here about potential outbound investment reviews (reverse CFIUS? SUIFC?). And while there have been reports of potential action by both Congress and the Biden Administration on outbound investment, it is all the more possible to see executive action before a new Congress takes seat.…

Continue Reading Will We Ring in the New Year with Outbound Investment Restrictions?

The Announcement

On Friday, October 7, 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released for public inspection (available here) one hundred forty pages of regulations (which we’ll call “the Regulation” here). Nearly all of the changes in the Regulation restrict the export of semiconductors, as well as related technology, manufacturing equipment, software, and even U.S.-person support, to China.…

Continue Reading China Semiconductor Export Regulations, Episode I – Counting Your Chips Carefully

** Update: Announcement has been moved to Friday October 7, 2022 at 9:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time **

On Thursday, the Biden administration will announce new restrictions preventing China from accessing advanced U.S. semiconductor technology.…

Continue Reading Further Export Controls on Semiconductor Technology for China coming this Week

On July 7, 2022, the Treasury Department laid out how it would work with its overseas counterparts and in international forums as the U.S. studies cryptocurrencies to set up a possible regulatory regime. This framework is the first executive agency response as mandated President Biden’s March executive order on crypto that we wrote about here.…

Continue Reading Treasury Department Seeks to Coordinate Globally on Crypto Regulation

So you’d like to build a new fabrication facility in China, or just add some capabilities to your existing plant? Well, the U.S. Government may want to have a look at that transaction—and may soon have the authority to stop that transaction.…

Continue Reading Reverse CFIUS? S∩IℲƆ? New outbound investment review process becoming more likely

On April 29, 2022, the UK introduced new measures to prevent the provision of internet services to or for the benefit of designated persons.[1] These measures apply to the whole territory of the UK and to conduct by UK persons where that conduct is wholly or partly outside the UK. The designated entities or individuals (“Designated Persons”) can be found on the regularly updated UK Sanctions List with the tag “Internet Sanctions List”. To date, only V-Novosti and Rossiya Segodnya are designated under those authorities.…

Continue Reading Introduction of internet-related Russia trade sanctions in the UK

On May 6, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated a cryptocurrency mixer, Blender.io, as a Specially Designated National (SDN). That sanction follows a series of enforcements and sanctions which we have previously discussed here and here.…

Continue Reading The Crypto Enthusiast and The Regulator: What OFAC is, Could Be, and Should Be Doing to Regulate CryptoCurrencies