Jacob Kopnick

The European Union's blocking statute should be revised due to the increasing complexity and proliferation of extra-territorial sanctions and the bloc's "strong exposure to certain third countries," the European Commission suggested in a recently published impact assessment of the statute. The blocking regulations are meant to protect EU businesses from extra-territorial sanctions, including those imposed by the U.S., which are increasingly leading to global sanctions compliance issues in Europe (see 2108020030 and 2002190038).

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts was right to allow a new trial for Joseph Baptiste in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit said in an Aug. 9 opinion. Concurring with the district court that Baptiste's counsel was of such deficient performance to allow a retrial, a three-judge panel at the circuit court denied the U.S.'s appeal of the decision to run the trial back.

The United Kingdom's Economic Secretary to the Treasury upheld an Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation penalty on TransferGo Limited for violating the U.K.'s sanctions in response to the annexation of Crimea by Russia. TransferGo, a money transfer company, was penalized for allowing payments to accounts at the sanctioned Russian National Commercial Bank between March 2018 and December 2019. The penalty of over $69,000 was sustained following a June review of the Policing and Crime Act 2017.

The Mexican government launched a lawsuit on Aug. 4 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against 10 gun manufacturers for their role in the spread of firearms in their nation. In a fiery complaint, Mexico decried the actions of the manufacturers who "design, market, distribute, and sell guns in ways they know routinely arm the drug cartels in Mexico." Through the use of corrupt gun dealers and illegal sales practices, these gun makers traffick weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border and cause countless death, destruction and economic harm, Mexico said.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas properly struck down the crude oil export tax under 26 U.S.C. Section 4611(b) as unconstitutional, commodity trading and logistics house Trafigura Trading said in its July 30 brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The tax on crude oil exports violates the U.S. Constitution's Export Clause banning any taxes on exports, the company said. As a result, the district court appropriately awarded Trafigura a $4.2 million refund for its taxes paid, the company said (Trafigura Trading LLC v. U.S., 5th Cir. #21-20127).

Changi Esquel Textile (CJE), a Hong Kong-based apparel company and part of the Esquel group of companies, filed for a preliminary injunction on July 19 against its placement on the Commerce Department's Entity List. The company is seeking the injunction even though it expects an announcement soon on potential changes to its status on the list, it said. "The government has informed Plaintiffs that there will likely be a development regarding CJE’s continued Entity List designation by August 1," the company said.

The World Trade Organization updated on July 20 a list of trade facilitation measures due to be implemented by the end of next year, released at the meeting of the Committee on Trade Facilitation. From July 1 to Dec. 31, 2021, 136 facilitation commitments have been agreed to by 36 different WTO members, which include speeding up the release of perishable goods and publishing trade procedures. Until the end of 2022, there are 389 implementation commitments for 74 members. Deadlines are based on members' own implementation schedules. The list does not include any commitments made by the U.S.

Since China failed to implement the recommendations from the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body on how to bring tariff-rate quotas on agricultural products in line with WTO commitments, the U.S. is seeking to implement countermeasures on the TRQs, the U.S. delegation to the DSB said in July 16 comments. Submitting their rationale in a one-page brief to the DSB ahead of the July 26 meeting, the U.S. delegation discussed how it is seeking the countermeasures under the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU).

Changji Esquel Textile (CJE), a Hong Kong-based apparel company and part of the Esquel group of companies, filed a July 6 lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to have its placement on the Commerce Department's Entity List dropped (Changji Esquel Textile Co. Ltd. et al. v. Gina M. Raimondo et al., D.C. Cir. #21-01798). The Trump administration put CJE on the list last year for alleged practices of using forced labor from the Muslim Uyghur minority population in China's Xinjiang region.

The European Union extended its vaccine export control regime until the end of September, the European Commission announced June 30. The controls apply only to companies with which the EU has negotiated an advance purchase agreement and require these companies to notify their member state authorities of their intention to export COVID-19 vaccines. Due to the controls, the EU has gained greater transparency into the vaccine supply chains and has gleaned that it is a global leader in vaccine exports, the release said.