The European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional political agreement last week on new toy safety rules that would ban the use of certain chemicals, such as PFAS, endocrine disruptors and bisphenols, in imported toys, the European Commission said.
China is raising tariff levels to 125% for U.S. origin goods in response to President Donald Trump's April 9 decision to raise tariffs to the same rate for Chinese goods (see 2504090043).
CHANDLER, Ariz. -- The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America could help organize a class-action lawsuit against ocean carriers if enough of its members and other non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCC) say they're unfairly being refused service contracts, industry officials said at the NCBFAA’s annual meeting.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., reintroduced a bill April 9 that would authorize the president to sanction foreign persons and vessels involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The Protecting Global Fisheries Act was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Kaine previously introduced the legislation near the end of the last Congress (see 2412200016).
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and two other senators introduced a bill April 10 that would bar companies owned or controlled by China or other “foreign adversaries” from owning or operating retail stores on U.S. military bases.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has created a task force to identify steps Congress should take to counter Western Hemisphere cartels involved in drug, human and arms trafficking, the committee announced April 11. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, will chair the task force. Crenshaw introduced a resolution last month to create a House select committee focused on Mexican drug cartels (see 2503310014).
Property management companies, real estate agents and other firms in the property services industry are underreporting suspected sanctions violations to the U.K. government, a U.K. sanctions agency said last week. The country’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said it suspects those firms are illegally helping sanctioned Russians buy or sell property, adding that Russians are likely being aided by small-scale property service firms or “sole practitioners with high-risk appetites” and long-standing relationships with sanctioned people.
A British court last week sentenced two Russians, including one former senior trade official, to prison for violating U.K. sanctions against Russia. The case marks the first conviction in the U.K. for a breach of sanctions under its Russia Sanctions Regulations, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
John Hurley, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial crimes (see 2502120058), said April 10 that he wants to "understand better how we can tighten the focus” on Chinese companies that steal U.S. innovations.
Matt Borman, who left the government earlier this year after more than two decades at the Bureau of Industry and Security (see 2502240003), has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a non-resident senior technical expert. CSIS said Borman will "lead the technical expertise of" the think tank's Economic Security and Technology Department. Borman was most recently the BIS principal deputy assistant secretary for export administration.