Hogan Lovells named Jared Wessel, who worked in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative General Counsel's office during the Obama administration, a partner, the law firm said in a news release. Anne Fisher, who works on export control issues, was named counsel, Hogan Lovells said.
China’s latest draft of its export control law (see 1912260029) represents the country’s first “comprehensive and consolidated” export control legislation and includes regulations for end-user statements, increased penalties and more, according to a Jan. 9 post from Baker McKenzie.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is issuing a final rule amending its regulations on its Market Access Program to eliminate the five-year limit on participation by branded products. Other updates in the final rule will bring the operation of the export promotion program “into conformance with the requirements in the Uniform Guidance,” USDA said. “Additional changes, such as the flexibility to announce program funding opportunities on the Grants.gov portal and edits to bring more consistency between the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program, are desirable to bring the administration of the program into line with current best practices in Federal grant-making.” The final rule takes effect Jan. 13.
The United Kingdom plans to establish a human rights sanctions regime after it leaves the European Union, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Jan. 9. The regime will be “inspired” by Canada’s human rights program and Britain will “look forward to collaborating” with Canada on human rights sanctions, Raab said.
The European Union is planning to impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials and people who attempted to block the country’s election process, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative, said Jan. 9. Borrell called the attempts to control the election “utterly unacceptable” and said “the EU is ready to start work towards applying targeted measures against individuals involved in the violation of these principles and rights.” U.S. officials have urged the EU to increase sanctions pressure on Venezuela (see 1912200049 and 1909240039).
Recently Released Export Control Signals BIS Intent to Narrowly Control Emerging Tech, Law Firms Say
The Commerce Department’s narrow set of controls on exports of geospatial imagery software issued earlier this month (see 2001030024) could foreshadow a more “targeted and restrained approach” in the agency’s emerging technology effort, according to a Jan. 8 post from Paul Hastings. By limiting the controls to software that is only “specially designed” for specific purposes, such as “training a neural network to analyze geospatial imagery,” Commerce is signaling its intention to impose controls that only capture small slivers of technology, the post said. “The move might signal an inclination by [the Bureau of Industry and Security] to take a careful approach to regulating [artificial intelligence] and other emerging technologies.”
The White House proposed a series of regulatory principles on governing artificial intelligence development and removing “barriers” to U.S. AI innovation, in a Jan. 7 memorandum. The memo -- which comes as the Commerce Department considers export controls on emerging technologies that include AI (see 1912160032) -- said federal agencies should deploy a “regulatory approach that fosters innovation, growth, and engenders trust” while also “protecting core American values, through both regulatory and non-regulatory actions.” The memo urges agencies to avoid regulations that “needlessly hamper AI innovation and growth” and encourages them to “provide ample opportunities” for the public to comment on regulatory efforts.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order expanding U.S. sanctions authority against Iran and the Treasury Department announced a series of new Iran sanctions, including measures against senior Iranian officials, metal companies and a vessel. The executive order grants the U.S. the authority to impose a series of new primary and secondary sanctions against people and companies involved with Iran’s construction, mining, manufacturing and textiles sectors, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during a Jan. 10 press conference. While the executive order only mentioned those four sectors, additional Iranian sectors may be sanctioned, Mnuchin said.
China’s Foreign Ministry criticized a report released this week by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that called for U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials, saying the commission has no “objectivity or credibility whatsoever.” The report, issued Jan. 8, also called for greater U.S. export controls on surveillance technologies being sent to China and urged the Trump administration to place more Chinese companies and agencies on the Commerce Department’s Entity List due to their involvement in human rights violations (see 2001080039).
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs began an interagency review of a final rule that would amend the country groups for Russia and Yemen under the Export Administration Regulations. OIRA received the Commerce Department rule Jan. 8.