U.S. Department of State (DOS) Archives | Page 2 of 2 | Customs & International Trade Law Blog

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.

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By Jennifer Diaz|2021-10-12T14:57:10-04:00February 9, 2021|COVID-19, Export, Import, International Trade, Trade Policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of State (DOS), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)|Comments Off

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.

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By Jennifer Diaz|2021-10-12T15:02:00-04:00January 28, 2021|China, China Trade War, EAR, Export, ITAR, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), U.S. Department of State (DOS), U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|Comments Off

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.

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By Jennifer Diaz|2021-10-12T15:06:51-04:00January 12, 2021|Cuba, EAR, Export, FCPA, Freight Forwarding, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Department of State (DOS), U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|Comments Off

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.

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By Jennifer Diaz|2021-10-13T15:29:38-04:00December 1, 2020|301 INVESTIGATIONS, China, China Trade War, EAR, Export, ITAR, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Department of State (DOS)|3 Comments

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.

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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.

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By Jennifer Diaz|2021-10-22T10:42:21-04:00November 5, 2019|China Trade War, Enforcement, ICE, Import, Import Alert, International Business, International Law, International Trade, IPR, Trademarks and Logos, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of State (DOS)|2 Comments

China Trade War Intensifies

Today, the Trump administration’s China trade war intensified as it announced plans to increase tariffs on Lists 1, 2, 3, and 4!

The president connected the additional tariff hikes to China’s new retaliatory tariffs (as a result of US’s imposition of List 4 tariffs) on $75 billion-dollar in US products, mainly impacted the agricultural and auto industries, or President Trump’s base (as previously reported here).

So what are the changes?

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By Jennifer Diaz|2021-10-28T15:40:59-04:00August 23, 2019|China, China Trade War, Customs Expert, Enforcement, Export, Import, International Business, International Law, International Trade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of State (DOS)|4 Comments

USMCA Replaces NAFTA

After thirteen months of negotiations, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have created a new trade agreement called the “United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement” (USMCA) on October 1, 2018.

What is the USMCA?

The USMCA is the new trade agreement that builds on and modifies the trade policies created in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was signed in 1994. The purpose of the USMCA is to align the trade agreement with the current trade environment. Various industries may experience changes due to the USMCA, which could eventually affect individual consumers. […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2021-10-29T15:20:43-04:00November 8, 2018|Export, Import, International Law, International Trade, International Travel, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of State (DOS)|3 Comments

Trump Administration Tightens Cuba’s Sanctions Program

Since June 2017, we have been anxiously awaiting changes to the Cuba sanctions program since President Trump signed an executive order and emphatically stated that his administration would tighten loose regulations established under the Obama Administration.

On November 8, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated,

“We have strengthened our Cuba policies to channel economic activity away from the Cuban military and to encourage the government to move toward greater political and economic freedom for the Cuban people”

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By Jennifer Diaz|2021-11-05T14:55:38-04:00November 9, 2017|Best Practices, Cuba, International Business, International Trade, International Travel, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), U.S. Department of State (DOS), U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|3 Comments