Customs and Trade Law Weekly Snapshot
Here is a recap of the latest customs and international trade law news: 
Customs and Trade Law Weekly Snapshot
Here is a recap of the latest customs and international trade law news:
New CITBA Article – An Overview of China’s New Export Controls Regime
Diaz Trade Law’s President, Jennifer Diaz, and Associate Attorney, Sharath Patil, are enthusiastic to announce that our article, “An Overview of China’s New Export Controls Regime” was published by the Customs and International Trade Bar Association (CITBA) in its Summer 2021 newsletter.
Our article discusses China’s new export control regime. The new framework is similar in many ways to U.S. export licensing mechanisms. The framework is seen by many as a mechanism to counter increasing U.S. export controls towards China as part of escalating U.S.-China tensions.
Below is the article for your reading pleasure.
Diaz Trade Law Invites the Trade Community to Two Free Webinars this Summer!
Celebrate the summer season with two light hearted webinars on International Trade. Diaz Trade Law invites the trade community to two FREE webinars; space is limited – register today! Laugh with us at the Humor in International Trade webinar and learn insightful facts about the impact of international trade on American history during The First Laws — History of Customs and Revenue Law. More information about each webinar is provided below:
Can We Find Humor in International Trade? – July 14, 2021 at 12:00 PM ET
This one-hour webinar describes humor in trade. International Trade is a serious subject, but within it, bits of humor can be found. Register today to hear from this experienced duo and discover many of the oddities and idiosyncrasies prevalent in our modern-day international trade system.
President and Founder of Diaz Trade Law, Jennifer (Jen) Diaz is a Chambers ranked, Board Certified International Attorney specializing in customs and international trade.
Biden Administration Commits to Modernizing Regulatory Review
Background on Regulatory Review
U.S. federal laws come from a wide array of sources. They are generally organized under the following order of authority: 1) the U.S. constitution, 2) statutes passed by Congress, 3) treaties ratified by Congress, 4) case law, 5) executive orders, 6) regulations, and 7) agency guidance. After Congress has provided a federal agency with a policy mandate, an agency is empowered to promulgate regulations to provide detailed and binding rules on those matters.
BIS Publishes First Military End User List
In a Final Rule, published on December 23, 2020, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) amended the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) by creating a “Military End User (MEU) List”. The list includes the first tranche of 103 entities consisting of 58 military end-users in China and 45 in Russia. BIS determined that these companies are ‘military end users’ for purposes of the ‘military end user’ control in the EAR that applies to specified items for exports, reexports, or transfers (in-country) to China, Russia, and Venezuela when such items are destined for a prohibited ‘military end user.’
Prior to this final rule, exporters, reexporters, or transferors were responsible for identifying these entities as ‘military end users’ themselves, assuming they were not otherwise individually informed. The MEU List (which is now searchable on the consolidated screening list) allows the public to be informed of BIS’s determination so all potential exporters are informed simultaneously.
Trump Administration Designates Cuba State Sponsor of Terrorism
Cuba Designated a State Sponsor of Terror
The U.S. State Department designated Cuba a State Sponsor of Terrorism (“SST”) on January 11, 2021. Countries are designated on the SST list when they are determined by the U.S. Secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.
The four main categories of sanctions resulting from designation can include restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance; a ban on defense exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions. Here, the January 11 re-designation of Cuba on the SST subjects Cuba to:
- Sanctions that penalize persons and countries engaging in certain trade with Cuba
- Restricts U.S. foreign assistance to Cuba
- Bans defense exports and sales to Cuba
- Imposes certain controls on exports of dual use items.
White House Releases National Strategy for Promoting and Protecting Critical Technologies
White House Releases Critical Technologies Report
Last month, the White House released a landmark report titled the “National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies.” The report outlines how the United States will promote and protect our competitive edge in fields such as artificial intelligence, energy, quantum information science, communication and networking technologies, semiconductors, military, and space technologies.
Using WROs to Fight Forced Labor
Forced Labor is the third most lucrative illicit trade, behind only drugs and weapons, and has an annual trade value of roughly $150 Billion. Right now, over 40 million people around the world are victims of some type of forced labor, including modern slavery, human trafficking, etc.
Thankfully, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been working to curb this inhumane practice.
33,810 IPR Seizures in 2018!
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is tasked with the monitoring of and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR). In CBP’s FY 2018 Seizure Statistics, CBP advised that it enforced trademarks and copyrights pertaining to over 17,641 active recordations, including 2,289 new recordations and 812 renewals of expiring recordations.
In fiscal year 2018, 381 individuals were arrested by CBP or ICE for violations related to IPR violations and 260 convictions related to intellectual property crimes proceeded. The total number of IPR seizures decreased by 333 seizures from the previous year. Surprisingly, while the number of seizures decreased from 34,143 in 2017 to 33,810 in 2018, the total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of seized goods, had they been genuine, increased $1.4 billion.