Global Trade & Foreign Policy Insights

On October 17, 2020, the Export Control Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “Export Control Law” or “the law”) was adopted at the 22nd Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (“NPC”); it took effect on December 1, 2020.

Over the past year, the U.S. government has tightened export control restrictions on technology entities in China, most particularly phone and 5G infrastructure manufacturer Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd (Huawei). We have written about Huawei’s addition to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List in previous briefings. In short, due to these designations any business or individual exporting, reexporting, or transferring goods and technology subject to BIS jurisdiction to Huawei requires a license from BIS.

On Monday, July 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), added 11 Chinese companies to the U.S. Entity List. According to the press release issued by Secretary Ross, all 11 entities were “implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor, involuntary collection of biometric data, and genetic analyses targeted at Muslim minority groups from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region….”

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has released an interim final rule which allows U.S. companies to provide Huawei with certain technology subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for the development of technological standards (e.g., standards for 5G wireless telecommunication). The Federal Register notice containing this interim final rule is expected to be published on June 18, 2020, and the rule will take effect upon publication.

On April 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a series of rules that will amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to expand license requirements on the export of items intended for military end use or military end users in China, Russia, or Venezuela.

On December 16, 2019, the U.S. Department of State (State Department) issued an advisory concerning the exports of metal products to Iran.

On December 13, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the release of a revised policy for business organizations regarding voluntary disclosures of export control and sanctions violations (VSD Policy) where there are potentially “willful” violations. The updated policy is intended to incentivize businesses to voluntarily self-disclose any such potentially willful violations and to cooperate fully with the government. The revised policy also reflects a recent push from government organizations to foster a greater public-private partnership to promote national security.

The Administration tightened export regulations regarding Cuba, effective October 21, 2019. The changes are generally targeted at Cuban government-owned enterprises, and according to the Commerce Department press release are intended to “hold the Cuban regime accountable for its repression of the Cuban people and its support for the Maduro regime in Venezuela.”

Despite the fact that the sanctions imposed on North Korea, both by the United States and the United Nations, are among the most restrictive in the world, the government in North Korea continues to obtain goods – even certain luxury goods specifically controlled under those sanctions programs.

Winston & Strawn is pleased to announce the launch of our blog covering global trade & foreign policy.