CBP issued a notice in the Feb. 12 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 54, No. 5) regarding the dates and draft agenda for the 65th Session of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Committee (HSC), which will meet in Brussels March 11-20. Among other things, the HSC issues classification decisions on the interpretation of the Harmonized System (HS) in the form of published tariff classification opinions or amendments to the Explanatory Notes. It also considers amendments to the legal text of the HS.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, testifying on the president's budget at a hearing Feb. 12, was asked repeatedly about what the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development might do on taxing digital companies, precluding France's digital services tax.
As the final regulations for the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act take effect this week, FIRRMA’s definition for critical technologies remains unclear due to a lack of proposed rules by the Commerce Department on emerging and foundational technologies, trade lawyers said.
Customs duties are estimated at $72 billion in the current fiscal year, and the White House projects that number will climb to $92 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. It projects that duties then will fall to $54 billion the following year.
The United Nations Security Council Committee added Seka Baluku to its Democratic Republic of Congo sanctions list, according to a Feb. 6 press release. The UNSC said Baluku is the leader of the Allied Democratic Forces, a Uganda-based terrorist organization. The United Kingdom updated its sanctions list with the UNSC addition. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned six members of the Allied Democratic Forces in December (see 1912100044) and sanctioned the group in 2014.
The Commerce Department is accepting nominations for its Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness, Commerce said. The agency is particularly encouraging nominations of representatives from the trucking, air transport, energy, logistics, supply chain financing, warehousing, terminal operators, retailers, and supply chain compliance sectors, it said. Applications will be accepted until Feb. 28. Commerce is seeking members for the current term, which ends in November 2021.
The United Nations Security Council Committee added one entry to its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al‑Qaida Sanctions List, according to a Feb. 4 notice. The UN added Mali resident Amadou Koufa, founder of the West African terrorist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a Feb. 5 notice reflecting the change. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated JNIM in 2018 and has sanctioned officials working for the group (see 1907160030).
The Commerce Department still does not have a timeline for releasing its next set of controls on emerging technologies and its advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, despite expectations from top officials that both would be published before 2020, a Bureau of Industry and Security official said. “I would have thought that they would be out earlier,” said Hillary Hess, director of BIS’s regulatory policy division, speaking during a Feb. 4 Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee meeting. “I think everybody would like to see them come out, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to take. I’m having trouble getting a bead on it myself.”
Indonesia has given its customs officials the authority to stop counterfeit goods at the border, and just in 2020, has already seized $1 billion rupiah, or $73,000, worth of counterfeits that were set for export, according to Iwan Freddy Hari Susanto, charge d'affaires for the Indonesian Embassy. He was testifying Jan. 31 at a hearing on Indonesia's eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, and was describing numerous actions the country has taken to improve protections for intellectual property rights holders.
An Iranian national faces several fraud-related charges for his involvement with a joint project with the Iranian and Venezuelan governments to violate U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 31 press release. Bahram Karimi was a member of a committee that oversaw the construction of “thousands” of housing units in Venezuela with help from Iran, the agency said. Karimi worked with others to defraud U.S. banks by hiding the role of Iranian parties in payments sent through the U.S. banking system, which violated U.S. economic sanctions. Karimi made at least 15 payments worth about $115 million. Karimi was also charged with making false statements after he was interviewed by two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in January 2020 and said he did not know U.S. sanctions against Iran applied to Iranian companies or people. Karimi faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for both conspiring to commit bank fraud and committing bank fraud. He also faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for making false statements.