Ian Cohen

The U.S. Navy is trying to help commercial cargo ships maintain the alternative trade routes companies have found as the U.S. works to end Houthi attacks on ships transiting the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, Vice Admiral George Wikoff said. And although the U.S. has used sanctions to target several Iran-backed networks helping to supply the Houthis, he said the U.S.-designated terror group is increasingly diversifying its suppliers and is becoming a legitimate technology exporter.

New EU guidance released this week offers insight into how the bloc will implement its sweeping new corporate sustainability due diligence rules, including how member states should decide whether traders do enough to collect required supply chain information.

Recently issued guidelines by the White House’s Office of Science Technology Policy could raise export compliance stakes for universities and research institutions, law firms said, especially for researchers that receive semiconductor-related federal funding under the Chips Act.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Trade groups, lawyers, investment firms, technology companies and foreign governments suggested a range of changes to the Treasury Department’s proposed outbound investment rules (see 2406210034), echoing calls last year for more clarity surrounding the due-diligence steps that will be required of deal-makers and warning that the U.S. risks chilling a broad range of U.S. ventures in China (see 2310050035). Several commenters also urged the Biden administration not to finalize the new prohibitions without similar buy-in from allies, with at least one group suggesting the U.S. is further from coordinating the rules among trading partners than it has let on.

Companies should generally lean toward disclosing serious violations to the government -- especially those that involve national security issues -- even if there’s almost no chance the violation will be discovered, lawyers said last week.

A U.S. digital assets company and a European aerospace firm recently disclosed in financial statements that they're under investigation for possible violations of sanctions or export control laws, while an American entertainment company revealed it submitted a sanctions disclosure to the U.S. government.

Companies should expect the Treasury Department to aggressively penalize violators of its upcoming outbound investment prohibitions relatively soon after those rules are finalized, lawyers with Kirkland & Ellis said this week. They also said American chip companies and other technology firms are considering inserting new outbound investment-related warranties in their contracts and may start pulling out of existing investment deals that could soon be captured by the new prohibitions.

The Pentagon should drop its outdated approach to technology security and export controls and allow American defense companies to work more efficiently with U.S. allies, a Defense Department advisory committee said in a new report this month. The committee said the agency needs major revisions to the way it treats restrictions under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, warning that DOD is “failing to address shortcomings in international engagement amid a rapidly evolving global security landscape.”

The U.S. should start designating Chinese banks under a December executive order that authorizes secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions that help facilitate Russia-related transactions, a group advocating for democracy in Hong Kong said in a new report this month.