Countries will more strictly review transactions involving foreign direct investment as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, especially the U.S., which could increase scrutiny and export controls in the biotechnology sector, trade lawyers said. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. may increase reviews of transactions involving health care technology to keep critical virus-fighting resources in the U.S., said Aimen Mir, a trade lawyer with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Mir, who also formerly served as the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for investment security, said the pandemic will also cause CFIUS and other agencies to increasingly look to prevent transfers of pathogen-related technologies and to maintain technology leadership in the biotechnology sector.
Members of the United Kingdom’s Parliament asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to include corruption as a basis for sanctioning people and entities once the U.K. leaves the European Union, according to a March 23 post on the EU Sanctions blog. In a letter to Raab, the lawmakers said the U.K.’s sanctions authority should extend beyond human rights abusers, citing U.S. and Canadian authorities that allow the countries to target corruption. “Failing to harmonise our sanctions measures with those of our allies may have far reaching unintended consequences,” the letter said.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation renewed a designation under its terrorism and terrorist financing sanctions, according to a March 24 notice. OFSI renewed sanctions for Syrian national Mohammed Fawaz Khaled, who was designated for “Islamist extremist activities.”
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Companies will likely be faced with a reshuffled supply chain after the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic subsides, placing greater importance on maintaining sound trade compliance programs even as business uncertainty increases, said Kerry Contini, an export control and sanctions lawyer with Baker McKenzie. As supply chain actors struggle to stay in business and as new parties enter and leave the supply chain, companies may face a host of new suppliers or customers, Contini said, a transition that will likely affect global industries on a large scale.
The European Union renewed sanctions against Egypt for one year, according to a March 20 notice. The sanctions, which now expire March 22, 2021, apply asset freezes to certain people and companies in Egypt.
There will be “minimum disruption” to the export licensing process for exporters in the United Kingdom, which expects to continue processing license applications amid the coronavirus pandemic response, according to a March 20 notice from the U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit. Processing “strategic” export license applications has been “identified as a business-critical operation” by the Department for International Trade, the ECJU said, adding that it recognizes authorizations for dual-use and military exports are “essential.” In addition, as more of the industry works from home, the ECJU clarified that there are “no export license compliance issues” with industry accessing U.K. “export control regulated data” from home using a company computer. Users will continue to receive communications and license decisions from SPIRE, the U.K.’s online export licensing system, in the “normal way,” the notice said.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade canceled its export control training courses planned for April, May and June, the agency said in a March 20 notice. The move follows an announcement by the prime minister to stop all non-essential contact and unnecessary travel, the agency said. The cancellation will impact 11 scheduled training courses, the DIT said, adding that it is looking at “alternative methods of delivering training.” The agency may cancel future courses as the “situation evolves.”
The European Union published its common military list, detailing rules governing exports of military technology and equipment, according to a March 13 EU Journal notice. The list updates the previous version adopted by the EU in 2019. Among the changes are new controls over software “designed or modified for the conduct of military offensive cyber operations,” according to a March 20 Baker McKenzie blog post.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is operating normally and will continue to process export license applications amid the global response to curbing the COVID-19 pandemic, a BIS spokesperson said. “Operations are not impacted,” the spokesperson said. In notices to industry, the Census Bureau said it will continue responding to industry but requested electronic submissions for disclosures (see 2003180029), while the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said some licensing processing may face delays (see 2003190017).