The advent of data privacy laws, such as Europe's General Data Protection Regulation, creates a "potential tension" with trade sanctions compliance, said Ramsey Kazem of Spark Compliance Consulting while at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference on June 27. GDPR and other laws in various stages of implementation in U.S. states "tend to be very protective and restrictive on how you use personal data," he said. This may often conflict with sanctions laws, which require companies to do "more with the personal data that they possess in terms of screening their third-parties, screening their business partners, screening their customers," Kazem said. "So it's not difficult to see how the GDPR" and other data privacy restrictions "could conflict with, for example, U.S. sanctions laws." Further complicating the issue for companies is that "neither the U.S. nor the EU recognize the other's laws as a legitimate basis" for not complying, he said. Companies will therefore need to examine the potential risks created by such a conflict, Kazem said. "In some instances there may not be an easy answer and a company may be forced to choose between the lesser of two evils." As a result, data privacy considerations "must be at the table" while a company is developing a sanctions law compliance program, Kazem said.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security is looking to make more use of the enforcement authorities it was granted under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, including more undercover operations, wiretapping and investigations, said Adrienne Frazier, a lawyer for BIS. Speaking on a panel during the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington on June 27, Frazier said BIS previously had the ability to conduct investigations in coordination with federal law enforcement. But ECRA gave BIS more individual authorities and investigative abilities, she said. “I think that those are going to be things the agency looks to do more of. It’s something that I think the agency is keen to do.”
Trade lawyers talking about changes to NAFTA's rule of origin said they're fairly optimistic the trade deal rewrite will be ratified in Congress in 2019. But aside from the auto sector, which has a multiyear transition period, they're concerned that by the time ratification comes, there won't be time for importers and exporters to adjust by Jan. 1, 2020, when the replacement agreement is supposed to be in force.
A California man was recently arrested for illegally exporting cesium atomic clocks to Hong Kong without obtaining the required Bureau of Industry and Security License, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a June 27 press release. Alex Yun Cheong Yue allegedly bought the clock from a U.S. reseller by misrepresenting its end-use, and was attempting to buy another clock when the reseller requested to tour Yue’s non-existent California facility to verify the end-use, causing Yue to abort his plans to export a second clock.
There is significant tension and disagreement between the Defense and Commerce departments about the reach of U.S. export controls, said Jamie McCormick, a staffer for House Appropriations Committee Republicans, June 27 at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington. McCormick said the confusion surrounding foundational technologies among U.S. industry leaders may stem from the original passage of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, adding that he believes the executive branch does not agree on a definition for foundational technologies. “I’m not certain that at the time they passed the bill that the executive branch could say with any certainty what they meant by foundational technologies,” McCormick said.
In the June 26 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Canada issued multiple new regulations related to Canada’s accession to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in the Canada Gazette, Part II. Among those is the new permit for the export of Arms Trade Treaty items to the U.S. meant to "provide a streamlined permitting process for the export of most ATT items." The regulations also include a brokering control list, brokering permit regulations, and regulations specifying activities that do not constitute brokering. The regulations will take effect on Sept. 1, according to another notice. The regulations were proposed in March (see 1904150033).
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations advanced a bill on June 25 that would repeal the ban on all exports to Cyprus that fall on the U.S. Munitions List. The change would prohibit the State Department from denying exports, re-exports or transfers of defense items and services to Cyprus as long as Cyprus is the end-user, the bill states. The repeal would advance U.S. “security interests” in Europe by helping Cyprus reduce its dependence on “other countries” for defense products, including countries that “pose challenges” to the U.S., the bill said. The change comes as part of a larger bill that would require the State Department to submit reports to Congress on Russian interference in Cyprus, Greece and Israel. The bill would also call on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Turkey and Russia if Turkey carries out its plan to buy an S-400 air defense system from Russia.
The U.S. should negotiate deals and strengthen trade with Mexico, Korea and Taiwan, a move that would substantially help U.S. exporters, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said in a June report. The report offers several policy recommendations for Congress and the Trump administration to boost exports, including: sign a U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement, pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, “reanimate” the Trade in Services Agreement, continue stifling Chinese “innovation mercantilism,” and ensure U.S. export controls don’t hinder exports to Taiwan, Mexico and Korea.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended the North Korea Sanctions Regulations to update references to “descriptive text” for certain entries on OFAC’s sanctions list, OFAC said in notice. The changes update references for entries on the Specially Designated Nationals List and List of Foreign Financial Institutions Subject to Correspondent Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions. The notice is scheduled to be published June 28.