A recent Supreme Court case on courts' deference to federal agencies will likely result in tougher legal scrutiny of trade policies made by the Commerce Department, CBP and other agencies that affect trade, said Devin Sikes, a lawyer at Akin Gump. Sikes wrote that the U.S. Court of International Trade and federal appeals courts will be doing deeper reviews of federal agencies' trade regulations that could have ambiguity. "Federal agencies operating in the international trade arena likewise will need to more fully explain their reasons for interpreting a regulation in a particular way," Sikes wrote. "These agencies may no longer assert ambiguity based on the regulation’s terms and expect deference from the courts. Expect an increase in the number of challenges filed contesting an agency’s interpretation of its own regulations."
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a member of the House working group negotiating with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said the second meeting, held the morning of July 11, was interesting, like the first. Schakowsky, D-Ill., whose area of interest in the group is the provision for biologic drug makers, said that topic was covered at the first meeting, before the Fourth of July break.
The House passed on voice votes July 11 three amendments aimed at addressing concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE for inclusion in the chamber's version of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2500). One, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would impose conditions for the Department of Commerce to be able to lift the Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of Huawei to its Entity List that would impose export restrictions on the company, including a finding that Huawei and its executives haven't violated U.S. or United Nations sanctions and haven't engaged in theft of U.S. intellectual property during the preceding five years. Acting Commerce Undersecretary for Industry and Security Nazak Nikakhtar said on July 9 the department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei in order to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon” (see 1907090068).
The Bureau of industry and Security posted the presentations from its annual conference held July 9-11 in Washington.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Venezuela’s General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, also known as La Dirección General de Contrainteligencia Militar (DGCIM), for operating in the country’s military sector, Treasury said in a July 11 press release.
An increasing number of foreign entities are using front companies to evade restrictions placed on them after being added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, said Kevin Kurland, director of Commerce’s Office of Enforcement Analysis.
The Commerce Department is planning to release its upcoming advance notice of proposed rulemaking on foundational technologies before it issues its proposed rules on emerging technologies, said Hillary Hess, director of Commerce’s regulatory policy division in the Bureau of Industry and Security, at BIS's annual export controls conference on July 10.
The Commerce Department is planning to issue multiple guidance documents on its blacklisting of Huawei Technologies due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters, Commerce officials said during the Bureau of Industry and Security's annual export controls conference July 9-11 in Washington. Officials said the guidance will address the most common questions BIS has received from U.S. industries.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
The European Commission adopted regulations on July 8 that provide a “single list” that contains contact details “of all Member States’ competent authorities that deal with sanctions” and “the EU Commission’s address for notifications,” according to a post on the EU Sanctions blog. The regulations aim to “harmonize and update the contact details” of the sanctions authorities for EU nations, the regulations say.