The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to list nine fentanyl-related substances -- meta-fluorofentanyl, meta-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl, para-methoxyfuranyl fentanyl, 3-furanyl fentanyl, 2′,5′-dimethoxyfentanyl, isovaleryl fentanyl, ortho-fluorofuranyl fentanyl, alpha′-methyl butyryl fentanyl, and para-methylcyclopropyl fentanyl -- under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice published April 13. The four substances are already temporarily controlled under a 2018 order that has been most recently extended until the end of 2024. "If finalized, this action would make permanent the existing regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis, or possess), or propose to handle these nine specific controlled substances," DEA said. Comments are due by May 15.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis is conducting a mandatory five-year benchmark survey of U.S. foreign direct investment, Thompson Hine said in an April client alert. U.S. companies must participate in the survey if at least 10% of their voting shares are directly or indirectly owned by a foreign person or company. Responses must be filed to BEA by May 31. The law firm warned that “completing the survey form can be time-intensive” depending on the “level of complexity of foreign ownership and the business’s corporate structure.” BEA will “generally approve reasonable requests for an extension of the filing deadline if requested before May 31.”
World Trade Organization members, during the first in a planned series of "Fish Weeks," laid out the foundation for an agreement on fisheries subsidies to be achieved by the next Ministerial Conference in February 2024, said Einar Gunnarsson, who chaired the March 20-24 talks. The talks were "very successful," Gunnarsson said. He said the next Fish Week, scheduled for April 25-28, will be the "beginning of our discussions of how to get to the result we want." Members also discussed that special and differential treatment will be "an integral part of the negotiations," the WTO said, and made a "general call" to safeguard the livelihood and food security of small fishers.
Ericsson pleaded guilty to breaching its 2019 deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ relating to its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company admitted to violating the FCPA and agreed to pay over $206 million in criminal penalties during a proceeding at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bloomberg reported (U.S. v. Ericsson, S.D.N.Y. # 19-00884).
New frequently asked questions on the Bureau of Industry and Security's October China chip controls are “almost through their clearance process,” Sharron Cook, a BIS official, said during a Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting this week. “Those should be up shortly,” she said.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is placing a significant focus on investments that could present data or cybersecurity risks, said CFIUS head Paul Rosen and FBI official Cynthia Kaiser. Rosen also said CFIUS continues to actively pursue non-notified deals and said the administration is still discussing the idea of an outbound investment review regime.
The European Parliamentary Research Service released a briefing covering a timeline of EU sanctions on Russia, including an analysis of the sanctions, their effectiveness and their economic impact.
The Biden administration's FY 2024 budget request includes funding to support a new outbound investment review “program” and more money for U.S. agencies to carry out export control and sanctions authorities.
Ericsson will plead guilty and pay a criminal penalty of more than $206 million after breaching provisions of a 2019 deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) stemming from Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, DOJ said March 3. Ericsson also will plead guilty to engaging in a “long-running scheme to violate" the FCPA by paying bribes, falsifying books and records, and "failing to implement reasonable internal accounting controls in multiple countries around the world,” DOJ said.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis recently announced a mandatory quarterly survey of foreign direct investment in the U.S. The agency will collect the data to “measure the size and economic significance of foreign direct investment in the United States and its impact on the U.S. economy,” BEA said. Reporting is mandatory for each U.S. business in which a foreign person has a “direct and/or indirect ownership interest of at least 10 percent of the voting stock in an incorporated business enterprise, or an equivalent interest in an unincorporated business enterprise, and that meets the additional conditions detailed in Form BE-605.” Reports are due to BEA “30 days after the close of each calendar or fiscal quarter, or 45 days if the report is for the final quarter of the financial reporting year.”