Christopher Stagg joined Miller & Chevalier as counsel in its International Department, the firm announced. Stagg formerly served as a senior policy adviser with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls at the State Department, where he worked as the deputy lead in rewriting the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and Export Administration Regulations, the firm said. This work also entailed revising the U.S. Munitions List and Commerce Control List. At his own firm, Stagg cultivated experience on export controls, economic sanctions and Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. matters, the firm said.
Customs brokers in Washington to lobby for the Customs Business Fairness Act renewal should also talk about the importance of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021, National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America transportation committee members told the annual government affairs conference attendees, as a way to fight excessive detention and demurrage fees.
An investment and research firm expects the Bureau of Industry and Security to issue several proposed rules for export controls related to semiconductors this fall and said BIS is considering other restrictions on certain Chinese technology companies. In a Sept. 17 report, the Cowen Washington Research Group said BIS is “likely” to soon issue several notices of proposed rulemaking to request industry comment on new controls for semiconductor capital equipment, mostly so the U.S. is prepared with new proposals for the next Wassenaar Arrangement cycle.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order last week authorizing a range of sanctions and export restrictions against human rights abusers and other people committing violence, blocking humanitarian aid or threatening peace in Ethiopia. The new sanctions regime can target the Ethiopian and Eritrean government and several military groups in the region, including the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, the Eritrean Defense Forces, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Amhara regional forces, and others supporting those groups and people. In addition to asset freezes, the order authorizes the Treasury Department to work with other agencies to deny export licenses for certain goods and technology to people or entities sanctioned under this regime.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. granted a request from Magnachip Semiconductor Corp. and Wise Road Capital to withdraw and resubmit their initial CFIUS filing, Magnachip said in a Sept. 14 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This will allow the two companies more time for “further discussion” with CFIUS about potential pathways to mitigate the national security risks CFIUS had identified in the merger. CFIUS’s new review period for the merger began Sept. 14 and will conclude no later than Oct. 28, the committee told Magnachip in a Sept. 13 letter. CFIUS may extend the review period if warranted.
The Biden administration is likely to increase export controls and sanctions enforcement in the next few years, Gibson Dunn lawyers said during a webinar this week. They also said the administration is likely to pursue enforcement in creative ways, including sometimes through disclosures with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
The legislative language for a proposed change to the treatment of excise tax drawback claims on exported tobacco would make such claims ineligible not just going forward (see 2109130038), but also would disallow claims filed since Dec. 18, 2018. That is the date that CBP issued a final rule saying that such claims were not allowed. However, the prohibition did not take effect until Feb. 19, 2019, because of the 60-day waiting period after the rule's publication (see 1908300032). The final rule was overturned in court, so some exporters have been collecting substitution drawback on these goods -- or as the government calls it, "double drawback," since the case was won.
Senate Republicans said they will drop their objections to two Treasury Department nominees slated to oversee the agency’s sanctions work (see 2106220037) if the Biden administration sanctions the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. In a Sept. 13 letter to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania laid out their conditions for dropping their opposition and said they are “hopeful” President Joe Biden will commit to sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG.
The Census Bureau hopes to release its new online voluntary self-disclosure portal (see 2103100022) by the year's end or early January, said Kiesha Downs, chief of Census’ Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch. Downs, speaking during the Commerce Department’s Sept. 14 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting, said Census has been overwhelmed lately by a large number voluntary disclosures -- partly because the branch has lost some staff (see 2106080058) -- and hopes the new portal will help.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should establish a blanket exemption for U.S. people and companies to participate in standards-setting bodies that have members designated on the Entity List, industry officials said. Although BIS has been working on a final rule (see 2012150037) that would clarify how export restrictions apply to the release of controlled technology at standards-setting organizations, officials from the telecommunications industry and other technology sectors are unsure how the rule’s final language will read and are concerned some of the agency’s restrictions, which they view as unnecessary, may continue.