Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., is drafting legislation that could lead to new oversight over certain rail storage charges assessed by ocean common carriers against shippers on through bills of lading. The bill, which hasn't been completed, could require the Federal Maritime Commission and the Surface Transportation Board to “get together” and decide who should regulate those charges, a Garamendi staffer told us.
Pratt & Whitney Component Solutions has settled with the Bureau of Industry and Security and will pay $48,750 to resolve violations of the agency’s antiboycott regulations, according to a Sept. 6 order. BIS said that the settlement stemmed from Pratt & Whitney's failure to timely report multiple requests to engage in restrictive trade practices and furtherance of an unsanctioned foreign boycott.
The State Department believes Australia and the U.K. will soon update their export control regimes so both can benefit from pending U.S. legislation that could expedite defense exports to those countries, said Jessica Lewis, who leads the agency’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. But at least one lawmaker said the U.S. should not be requiring the U.K. and Australia to revise their export control laws, adding that the request risks impeding the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) agreement.
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The U.S. shouldn’t be targeting American companies that exclude foreign applicants for job openings if those policies are meant to protect American sensitive technologies, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, said in a letter to DOJ. Vance’s letter came after DOJ in recent enforcement actions targeted both SpaceX and General Motors for using export control laws to justify restrictive hiring practices, highlighting the risks facing companies looking to fill positions that involve export-controlled items, Barnes & Thornburg said in a recent client alert.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a temporary denial order last week against three people and four companies for their involvement in a scheme to illegally procure more than $225,000 worth of U.S. electronics components for Russia’s military. One of the individuals, Russian-German national Arthur Petrov, was arrested Aug. 26 in Cyprus and charged by DOJ with violating export controls and smuggling controlled goods from the U.S.
Financial technology company Wise Payments Limited violated the U.K.'s sanctions on Russia when it allowed a company owned by a sanctioned person to withdraw funds from a business account, the U.K. said this week. The announcement marked the U.K.’s first use of its new sanctions enforcement disclosure “power,” an authority it acquired last year that allows it to publish details of sanctions violations in cases where the party isn’t hit with a monetary penalty.
Contractual language against forced labor may not be enough to meet increasing supply chain due diligence regulations, particularly as the EU implements its corporate sustainability due diligence directive (see 2202230073 and 2306010022), Ernst & Young advisers said this week. Although there is still debate about how broadly the bloc’s new rules will be scoped, the advisers warned companies against blinding themselves to rising government expectations.
The Biden administration should take an “end-user list-based approach” to restricting investments in Chinese artificial intelligence companies as part of its recent executive order on outbound investment (see 2308090066 and 2308100045), researchers with Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology said in a report this week. The report said the Treasury Department can use its Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies (CMIC) List as a “foundation” by updating and expanding it to restrict AI investments beyond publicly traded securities.
U.S. officials during their trip to China this week outlined expectations for end-use checks in the country and rebuffed requests from Beijing to reduce export restrictions on advanced technology, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. While the American contingent isn’t leaving China with concrete resolutions to trade issues, she said she believes commitments from both sides to increase communication, including as part of an export control enforcement working group, were a positive first step.