New York man Russell Milis was charged last week for illegally exporting eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles from the U.S. to China in violation of the Lacey Act, DOJ announced. He faces two counts of smuggling goods, each of which carry a 10-year maximum prison sentence, and one count of violating the Lacey Act, which comes with a maximum of vie years in prison.
Four Republican senators asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter last week to explain why her department hasn’t made greater use of its authority to sanction those who commit human rights violations against China’s Uyghur minority.
Although the U.S. and the EU have been collaborating more closely on technology export controls and supply chain due diligence laws, there are still “massive questions” about whether those controls will extend to more mature-node semiconductors and how new EU supply chain laws are going to affect companies doing business in Europe, said U.S.-EU trade and security consultant Frances Burwell.
The nearly 700 companies that the Bureau of Industry and Security has flagged for potentially sending export controlled goods to Russia include foreign suppliers in China, Turkey, India and others across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, according to a list obtained by Export Compliance Daily.
USDA has begun reviewing and processing export facility registration applications as part of China’s Decree 248, a recently enacted Chinese law that requires certain foreign production facilities to register with the country’s customs agency, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report this month.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Reps. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., introduced a bill June 7 that would require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to notify Congress if CFIUS denied a member agency’s request to review a transaction.
The Group of 7 nations are working on a deal that would allow all members to use seized Russian assets to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia, said Daleep Singh, a National Security Council official. He said the countries haven’t agreed to terms yet, but the U.S. hopes to make progress when the G7 nations meet in Italy next week.
Lawmakers are proposing dozens of export control-, sanctions- and foreign investment-related amendments to the House version of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including measures aimed at China, Iran and Russia.
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., have introduced a bill to reauthorize the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act for another five years, Rubio’s office announced June 6. The 2020 law, which expires in 2025, authorizes sanctions against entities and people responsible for human rights violations against the Uyghur minority ethnic group in China's Xinjiang region (see 2006170064).
The Treasury Department has drafted a proposed rule that could lead to new outbound investment restrictions and notification requirements on deals involving China. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for interagency review June 5, would build on the advance notice of proposed rulemaking issued by Treasury in August, which requested public comments on potential requirements for U.S. investments in China's quantum technology, artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries (see 2308090066). Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in May that the administration hopes to finalize the new rules by the end of this year (see 2405080039).