Export Controls & Economic Sanctions

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently issued a final rule, effective November 18, 2020, which revises certain provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to implement enforcement provisions pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (“ECRA”), which expanded the export control authorities available to the Secretary of Commerce.  BIS also amended the EAR with respect to the issuance of licenses and denial orders and the payment of civil penalties, not directly related to implementation of ECRA.

The Trump Administration has encountered further setbacks in its efforts to prevent Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. (“ByteDance”) from providing its popular social media app TikTok in the U.S.  For background:

  • On August 6, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13942 (“EO 13942”) which: (i) determined that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok threatened U.S. national security, and

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President Trump issued an Executive Order (“E.O.”) on November 12, 2020 titled “Addressing the Threat from Securities Investments that Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies.”  The E.O., which will be published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2020 and will take effect on January 11, 2021 at 9:30 eastern standard time, designates thirty one (31)…

Under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (“ECRA”), the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) is authorized to establish controls on the export, reexport or in-country transfer of “emerging and foundational technologies.”  On August 27, 2020, BIS issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, requesting comments on the definition…

On November 2, 2020, the White House released a notice continuing the national emergency with respect to Sudan declared in Executive Order 13067 of 1997.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a press statement clarifying that the United States is continuing certain Sudan-related sanctions pursuant to obligations to the United Nations (“UN”), but that the…

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule effective October 29, 2020 amending Section 742.4(b)(7) of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to revise the license review policy for items controlled for National Security reasons (“NS items”) destined for the People’s Republic of China (“China”), Venezuela, or the Russian…

On October 14, 2020, the U.S. Secretary of State, pursuant to section 5(a) of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (“HKAA”), submitted a report to Congress identifying foreign persons who are “materially contributing to, have materially contributed to, or attempt to materially contribute to the failure of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) to meet its…

A federal judge from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted TikTok’s motion for preliminary injunction, resulting in a nationwide temporary suspension of an order from the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) for Apple and Google to remove TikTok from its U.S. app stores.  Last week, Chinese social media app WeChat was…

President Trump issued an Executive Order on September 21, 2020 which, effective immediately, imposes secondary sanctions on the transfer and sale of certain conventional arms shipments and the supply of related services to Iran by non-U.S. persons.  This Executive Order follows the current administration’s failed effort to reinstate sanctions and a conventional arms embargo by…

China-based smartphone apps, TikTok and WeChat, have each received a reprieve from the respective bans, which were originally ordered by President Trump on August 6, 2020 against both parties and were scheduled to take effect on September 21, 2020.  Please see our previous post covering the Executive Orders.  Pursuant to the Executive Orders banning the…