On December 22, 2020, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published a final rule (“Final Rule”) in the Federal Register adding 77 entities and individuals to the Entity List, including several prominent Chinese multinationals (together, the “Designees”). The Final Rule took effect on December 18, 2020. On the same day, BIS also published FAQs related to its recent expansion of the foreign-produced direct product rule (the “Huawei FPDP Rule”). Entity List Designations In press statements (here and here) released with the…
On October 29, 2020, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule (the “final rule”) amending the license review policy under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for items controlled for national security (“NS”) reasons when destined to China, Russia, or Venezuela. The amendments add Venezuela to the list of countries to which the policy applies and modify the policy to replace the reference to military capabilities with a new, more nuanced standard…
On August 17, 2020, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule (published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2020) (i) expanding the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) General Prohibition Three (the foreign-produced direct product rule, or the “FPDP Rule”) to further restrict Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its affiliates designated on the BIS Entity List (collectively, “Huawei”) from acquiring foreign-produced semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US…
On July 31, 2020, the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to suspend the availability of all License Exceptions for Hong Kong that provide differential treatment relative to mainland China. Our blog post on prior steps taken to revoke preferential treatment for Hong Kong, including the initial announcement of these suspensions, is available here. The following partial or full License Exceptions are no longer available for exports…
On July 28, 2020, the Department of the Treasury issued a final rule formally implementing filing fees for formal notices of transactions submitted to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”). CFIUS filing fees were previously established in an interim rule on April 29, 2020, and are assessed on a sliding scale between $0 and $300,000, depending on the value of the transaction. In addition, the final rule also narrows the definition of “principal place of…
On July 14, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13936 on Hong Kong Normalization (the “Hong Kong Normalization EO”), which directs the suspension or elimination of special and preferential treatment for Hong Kong under a wide range of US laws, setting the stage for Hong Kong to be treated the same as mainland China. It also authorizes sanctions against persons involved in developing, adopting, or implementing China’s Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong…
On June 11, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13928 “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Associated with the International Criminal Court” (“ICC EO“), which authorizes the imposition of sanctions and visa restrictions on non-US ICC officials in connection with investigations into US or allied government officials or military personnel. The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, which is the treaty that established the ICC. The President declared a national emergency under…