The EU will officially impose countervailing duties on electric vehicle imports from China (see 2408200020) despite months of lobbying from Beijing against the new tariffs (see 2410250015), which are meant to address EU concerns around Chinese EV subsidies. The new duties will remain in place for five years and will take effect the day after they’re published in the Official Journal of the EU, expected to be this week.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The Treasury Department's new outbound investment rules will officially take effect Jan. 2, creating new prohibitions and notification requirements to limit certain U.S. business activities in China’s semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum sectors. The 297-page final rule, released in pre-publication form Oct. 28, adopts many of Treasury’s proposed regulations issued in June (see 2406210034) with a host of notable tweaks and clarifications, including a more detailed description for the rules’ AI investment threshold and insight into the agency’s due diligence expectations for U.S. companies.
A State Department proposal to revise the definition of defense services could cover an overly broad set of activities and likely exacerbate the already lengthy processing times for commodity jurisdiction requests and export license applications, defense industry groups and firms said in public comments to the agency released last week.
Chinese government efforts to obscure which firms have public links to the country’s military are making due diligence more complicated, but compliance officers can use several strategies to overcome those challenges, said Colby Potter, a former intelligence official with the State Department.
The Federal Maritime Commission needs more employees and funding to investigate and penalize violators of shipping laws, especially for costly cases that move to U.S. courts, the commission’s enforcement division director told the FMC this week. Commissioners also said the FMC is closely scrutinizing ocean carriers and terminal operators accused of unfair surcharge practices stemming from the recent labor strikes at U.S. East and Gulf coast port terminals.
The Federal Maritime Commission’s enforcement arm is investigating two cases involving potentially unlawful or unfair maritime shipping practices, including one that hasn’t yet been made public, said John Crews, director of the FMC’s Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance.
New export controls over U.S. persons’ support for certain foreign military, intelligence and security services activities would place too much strain on both the government and industry compliance departments, disadvantage American exporters compared with their foreign competitors, and may provide no clear benefit to U.S. national security, companies and trade groups told the Bureau of Industry and Security.
An updated maritime industry advisory issued this week by the group of countries implementing the price cap on Russian oil includes new compliance recommendations, including ways to improve due diligence around tanker sales and tips to avoid deals with sanctioned counterparties.
China released new dual-use export control regulations Oct. 19, including details about its export licensing system, how Beijing will verify end-users of export-controlled items, how the rules may apply outside the country, and a method for adding restricted foreign importers, end-users and others who violate Chinese export controls to a new “control list.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 26 companies and people to the Entity List after the agency said they violated U.S. export controls -- including by supplying sensitive items to China, Iran, Pakistan or Russia -- or failed to comply with U.S. end-use checks.