James Sullivan, a former International Trade Administration official, has joined DLA Piper as a partner in the data protection, privacy and security subgroup as part of the Regulatory and Government Affairs practice, the firm announced. At ITA, Sullivan was the assistant secretary for industry and analysis as well as deputy assistant secretary for services. He oversaw the agency's Office of Digital Services Industries and was responsible for the government's implementation and management of data protection and privacy regimes with an emphasis on data flows and artificial intelligence, the firm said.
Even as the European Council agreed on the approach to a carbon border adjustment mechanism, a lawmaker in the EU Parliament said that the fact that CBAM did not make it out of the trade committee showed how thorny it will be to get a law passed to hike tariffs on imports that do not come from countries that are fighting climate change as strongly as the EU.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely March 31, CBP said in a notice. The meeting will be the first for the newest COAC members. Comments are due in writing by March 28.
The House March 9 passed a government funding bill, including an emergency Ukraine-related aid package for certain U.S. export control and sanctions work.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order March 9 that will require several agencies to study how cryptocurrency can be used to evade sanctions. The order, part of a “priority effort” underway by the administration to counter illegal uses of virtual currencies, comes amid concerns from lawmakers that Russia could turn to cryptocurrency to evade U.S. and global financial restrictions (see 2203030047).
The U.S.’s new Russia export controls could lead to a short-term spike in license applications, but volumes will likely taper off later this year as businesses divest from Russia, said Nazak Nikakhtar, a former senior U.S. export control official.
The Federal Maritime Commission is planning to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on container return and "earliest return date" practices by carriers, Commissioner Rebecca Dye told the Senate Commerce Committee. She also said there will be an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on detention and demurrage billing practices.
House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that she needs to provide "a detailed analysis" of how China did or did not live up to the phase one trade deal. "We have great confidence in your abilities to address the many challenges China presents to the United States and other market economies, and we hope you will expand detailed communication on these matters so that Congress and the Administration can be partners in developing effective U.S. responses," they wrote Feb. 24.
The European Commission accepted a request from Chinese exporter Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics to be granted new exporting product treatment, subjecting the company to a 17.9% antidumping duty rate. The request regarded antidumping duties on ceramic tableware and kitchenware from China. Following an analysis, the commission said that the exporter met all three of the conditions for this status. Jewelmoon didn't export the subject merchandise during the investigation period, isn't related to any exporters subject to the ADD measures and exported the product to the EU after the original investigation period. Therefore Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics was added to the annex listing the cooperating companies not included in the sample for determing the ADD rates in the original subject dumping investigation.
A new London School of Economics and Political Science report commissioned by the European Commission reviews the implementation and enforcement of environmental and labor provisions in free trade agreements in an effort to bolster the commission's Trade and Sustainable Development approach. The report, "Comparative Analysis of Trade and Sustainable Development Provisions in Free Trade Agreements," studied FTAs involving the EU, Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the U.S., showing a large variation of enforcement and implementation of TSD measures. The commission said the report found that cooperation is key for TSD implementation, even for countries that use trade sanctions for TSD enforcement.