Attorneys in the Latin American practice at Miller & Chevalier said that DOJ has been emphasizing the kind of corporate oversight it expects to prevent bribery cases, and said that the agency wants to see compensation structures that incentivize compliant behavior, the use of data analytics for monitoring employees, preserving data from personal cell phones, and, if there is a violation, conducting a root cause analysis.
The U.S. expressed some positive views on the first decision of the World Trade Organization's multiparty interim appeal arbitration arrangement (MPIA) concerning Colombia's antidumping duties on frozen fries from various EU countries. Speaking during the Dispute Settlement Body's Jan. 27 meeting, the U.S. said it welcomes the MPIA's "willingness to adopt an interpretation" it sees as consistent with the Anti-Dumping Agreement, "even and especially if the interpretation differs from the Appellate Body's erroneous views."
Although the State Department is working to better streamline its export licensing process, the agency is facing increasingly complicated licensing decisions and a large volume of applications, said Sarah Heidema, policy director for the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. She said DDTC has “thousands of licenses pending adjudication” at “any given time,” and some require extensive analysis.
The G-7 price cap on Russian oil, along with other trade restrictions, appears to be having a significant impact on the global price of Russian energy, experts said during an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies last week. But they also said it remains unclear whether the cap is limiting Russia’s export volumes and said it’s too early to tell how well industry is complying with the cap’s service restrictions.
The Treasury Department last week issued an order barring certain funds transfers involving a Hong Kong-registered cryptocurrency exchange due to its ties to illicit Russian financing. The order, which is the first issued under new authority granted to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network under the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act, prohibits “certain transmittals of funds” involving Bitzlato by a range of financial institutions.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal did not announce any breakthroughs after their Jan. 11 meeting, but their joint statement pointed to some trade irritants that might be resolved in the future.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control Dec. 30 fined a multinational Danish-based refrigeration manufacturer more than $4.3 million for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Syria and Sudan. Danfoss, which also sells air conditioners and other cooling and heating products, illegally directed customers in all three countries to make payments through a U.S. financial institution, OFAC said in an enforcement notice. The company also made illegal payments to entities in Iran and Syria.
TikTok isn’t a national security threat and shouldn’t be subject to a government ban, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Governance Project said in a report this week. The group said all “evidence indicates that TikTok is a commercially motivated enterprise and not a tool of the Chinese state,” adding that the app isn’t “exporting censorship” and the personal data it collects “is very similar to the data collected by its peer competitors.”
Germany's new Supply Chain Law, which took effect Jan. 1, will allow the country to fine companies if they fail to ensure that their suppliers don't engage in human rights violations and harmful economic practices Bloomberg reported Jan. 5. The law applies to companies with at least 3,000 employees, though that number will be lowered to 1,000 in 2024. The law requires firms to implement a strict risk management and analysis and documentation system to ensure minimum standards in human and environmental rights at both the domestic and international level.
The U.S. may look to expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. after CFIUS determined it couldn’t intervene in China-based Fufeng Group's purchase of North Dakota farmland, law firms said this month. Congress could make a push to expand CFIUS next year, some firms suggested, especially after several lawmakers said the real estate transaction should have fallen under the committee's authority.