The EU is going extraterritorial, and it is doing so through private contract. It is a pretty neat trick.
Continue Reading E(U)xterritoriality of EU Sanctions: The No Russia Clause

On February 29, 2024, the Biden administration issued a statement addressing the national security risks to the U.S. auto industry directing the Department of Commerce to conduct an investigation into Chinese made “connected vehicles” (CVs).
Continue Reading Department of Commerce Initiates Investigation into Chinese-Made “Connected Vehicles”: Potential Prohibitions on Certain Information and Communications Technology and Services

On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the Department of Commerce, Department of the Treasury and Department of Justice issued another Tri-seal Compliance Note, focusing this time on the obligations of foreign based persons complying with U.S. sanctions and export control laws as well as recent enforcement actions. This may signal more scrutiny on the compliance of foreign companies which we have discussed here.
Continue Reading Guidance to Foreign Companies on Export Controls and Sanctions: Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and Justice Issue Tri-Seal Compliance Note on Foreign Based Persons’ Obligations to Comply with U.S. Sanctions and Export Control Laws

The EU plans to step up controls on its home-grown technology. That is the short version.
Continue Reading Protective Packaging: The EU’s Economic Security Package Changes the Landscape in Global Technology Controls

As part of its European Economic Security Package, the European Commission (‘Commission’) has recently proposed a number of legislative proposals and White Papers intended to better protect Europe’s strategic interests. We have covered the wider initiative here.
Continue Reading The EU Commission Gets Serious About FDI Screening

Grants and tax credits, who doesn’t love them? The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is full of them, and recent Department of Energy (DOE) Notification of a Proposed Interpretive Rule provides guidance on who will get to benefit from those grants and tax credits. The BIL is a historic investment in U.S. infrastructure, the breadth of which is beyond the scope of this blog. However, thankfully, the DOE Proposed Rule focuses on batteries.
Continue Reading Should You Be Concerned About Foreign Entities of Concern?

On December 22, 2023, President Biden signed a new Executive Order (E.O. 14114) containing the latest round of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Shortly thereafter, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will take “decisive” and “surgical” action when enforcing sanctions against financial institutions involved in transactions that support Russia’s military-industrial base. Under the new sanctions, non-U.S. financial institutions may be denied access to U.S. correspondent accounts or payable-through accounts, effectively denying access to the U.S. financial system. OFAC may also block an offending institution’s property in the United States. The sanctions build on…
Continue Reading New Russia Sanctions Intensify Pressure on Banks Worldwide

Export controls are the manifestation of foreign, economic, and national security policy, and the implementation of policy requires dynamic adjustment, a back-and-forth, a balance. So, on December 7, 2023[1], amid the tightening of new semiconductor regulations, BIS announced it was relaxing regulations around another set of exports. This drawing back of the controls arrives in the form of a set of three rules easing license requirements and expanding license exceptions. While seemingly disparate, each of the three areas of amendments represents a consistent push to align U.S. export policy with those of its allies and trade partners,…
Continue Reading Carrot and Stick Export Controls: U.S. Export Controls Give Benefits to Allies

• Semiconductors are the only commodity that are as ubiquitous and as heavily regulated.
• Semiconductors are unique: nothing so common is as tightly controlled, and nothing so tightly controlled is as common.
• But this puts the industry in an extremely complex position.
• Other industries may ask . . . are we next?

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Continue Reading The Semiconductor Moment

On November 21, 2023, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced its largest settlement in history with the virtual currency exchange Binance. This almost-billion dollar settlement is a part of a larger comprehensive settlement with the Department of Justice, FinCEN, and the CFTC, totaling over $4 billion. OFAC found that Binance had allowed 1.6 million transactions in violation of multiple sanctions regimes while Binance’s C-Suite was complicit. Binance’s blunders that led to this enforcement action highlight the importance of management commitment to compliance programs.[1]…
Continue Reading Binance’s Paper Compliance Program Crumples Under OFAC Scrutiny in Largest OFAC Settlement in History

In 1947, then President Harry Truman pledged that the United States would support any nation in its efforts to resist Communism and prevent its spread. The policy was commonly called, “Containment,” capturing the concept that countries aligned with U.S. policy would surround the Soviet Union and its allies, containing the spread of their ideologies. The policy was maintained as doctrine and a guiding principle in U.S. policy throughout the Cold War era.
Continue Reading China Semiconductor Export Regulations, Episode IV – “Technological Containment” – U.S. Semiconductor Restrictions Aim to Align Allies with U.S. Policy

Key Takeaways

• Advanced Computing and Supercomputing ECCNs are expanded.
• Controls applied to exports to countries other thanChina; countries from where items may be reexported to China.
• Chipmaking equipment controls are expanded and the de minimis rule reduced.
• New entities are added to the U.S. Entity List with the Footnote 4 (FN4) FDPR designation.
• More U.S.-person activity is controlled.

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Continue Reading China Semiconductor Export Regulations, Episode III – What a Difference a Year Makes

On August 9, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order (E.O.) ordering the issuance of outbound investment restrictions. This E.O. comes after nearly a year of anticipation (as we have documented on several occasions over the past year). This is the start of the reverse Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process that has been mostly speculation (and blog articles) until yesterday. In conjunction, the Treasury Department issued a press release, fact sheet, and Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking comments from the public on the proposed restrictions by September 28.
Continue Reading Reverse CFIUS Unveiled: Focus on China, Semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Computing