Welcome to our first Virtual Year-End Review of Import/Export Developments Conference, a virtual offering for all our clients and friends worldwide. Baker McKenzie’s international trade compliance lawyers from around the world discussed the major global legislative, judicial and administrative activities and trends in export controls, trade sanctions, customs compliance, and…

On October 27, 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a final rule amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) restricting certain remittance-related transactions to and from Cuba (the “Final Rule”). OFAC also published updated and new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to transactions with Cuba. Significantly, the recent amendments…

On September 1, 2020, the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), and the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued a joint advisory on North Korea’s ballistic missile procurement activities (“Advisory“). …

On July 30, 2020, the US Department of State (“State Department”) expanded secondary sanctions targeting Iran’s nuclear, military, and ballistic missile programs under the Section 1245 of the Iranian Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (“IFCA”) by including 22 specific metals used in connections with such programs in Iran.  Sanctions…

The US Treasury Department and the US State Department have announced two new rounds of sanctions against Syria, including the first designations under the recently-enacted Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (“Caesar Act”).  The first round, announced on June 17, 2020, resulted in the addition of 39 individuals and entities to…

On July 15, 2020, the US Department of State (“State Department”) updated its guidance (“Updated Guidance“) regarding the implementation of Section 232 of Title II of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (“CAATSA” see our previous blog post on CAATSA here and our previous blog post on the 2017 State Department guidance…

On July 15, 2020, the US Department of State (“State Department”) updated its guidance (“Updated Guidance“) regarding the implementation of Section 232 of Title II of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (“CAATSA” see our previous blog post on CAATSA here and our previous blog post on the 2017 State Department guidance…

On 19 May 2020, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule effective on 15 May 2020 amending the Export Administration Regulations’ (EAR) General Prohibition Three (the foreign-produced direct product rule) and Entity List to impose new controls on the reexport, export from abroad, and transfer (in-country) of certain foreign-produced semiconductor-related items when such items are the direct product of certain designated US technology or software and are destined to Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and 114 of its non-US affiliates designated on the BIS Entity List (collectively, Huawei). BIS is seeking comments on the interim final rule, which must be submitted on or before 14 July 2020.

On 26 November 2019, the US Department of Commerce (Commerce) issued a highly anticipated proposed rule with proposed regulations (Proposed Regulations) to implement Executive Order 13873, “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain” (Executive Order 13873). Executive Order 13873 gives the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) sweeping, unprecedented…

The U.S. Government is considering adding digital currency addresses affiliated with individuals and entities identified to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons