Canadian national Klaus Pflugbeil, a resident of China, was arrested March 19 for allegedly conspiring to send an unnamed U.S. electric vehicle company's trade secrets to "undercover law enforcement officers," DOJ announced. Pflugbeil allegedly conspired with Chinese national Yilong Shao to send the trade secrets. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.
Jacob Kopnick
Jacob Kopnick, Associate Editor, is a reporter for Trade Law Daily and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and International Trade Today. He joined the Warren Communications News team in early 2021 covering a wide range of topics including trade-related court cases and export issues in Europe and Asia. Jacob's background is in trade policy, having spent time with both CSIS and USTR researching international trade and its complexities. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Public Policy.
The Council of the EU on March 19 approved reform efforts for the EU Court of Justice, transferring jurisdiction of various issues to the EU General Court. The council must now approve amendments to both courts' rules of procedure before the changes take effect.
Russia accepted the World Trade Organization's agreement on fisheries subsidies, the WTO announced this week. Seventy-two members have accepted the deal, which is 38 shy of the two-thirds mark needed for full adoption.
The D.C. U.S. District Court on March 11 dismissed a lawsuit from a senior Democratic Republic of Congo elections official challenging his sanctions designation, saying the listing wasn't "arbitrary or capricious" and that due process laws weren't violated.
A lawsuit between the trustee of a Russian businessman and his "long term" partner will go to trial after the U.K. High Court of Justice on March 13 declined to dismiss their defense, setting up a case that could shed light on the role sanctioned parties play in property disputes.
The U.K. HM Revenue & Customs announced on March 18 that businesses have until June 4 to move their export declarations to the new Customs Declaration Service platform from the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight service. After June 4, declarations no longer can be submitted via the old service. The British customs office said that the Customs Declaration Service, which has been running since 2018 for import declarations, is "more user-friendly" and has "greater functionality."
Australia, Japan and Singapore believe a second version of a text on e-commerce reforms "could pave the way for the conclusion of the agreement by the summer," the World Trade Organization said in a press release last week.
The U.K. soon will update export controls on various military and dual-use technologies, which will align the country's rules with changes recently made by the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime. The U.K. also will introduce new controls on "specific emerging technologies" that it has "committed to implement" alongside other "like-minded countries," the Department for Business and Trade said March 12.
Sai Keung Tin, a Chinese national, was indicted March 8 on four counts of illegally exporting eastern box turtles, a "protected wildlife species," from the U.S. to China for the "global pet trade black market," DOJ announced. Tin faces a maximum 10-year prison stint for each smuggling count.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on March 12 affirmed a federal D.C. court's dismissal of Venezuelan national Samark Jose Lopez Bello's suit against his designation as a narcotics trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Samark Jose Lopez Bello v. Andrea M. Gacki, D.C. Cir. # 21-01727).