The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network released a proposed rule this week that could delay the deadline for certain companies to comply with its new beneficial ownership information reporting requirements (see 2308160023). The agency is proposing to delay the deadline only for companies created or registered on or after the rule takes effect Jan. 1. The proposal would extend that filing deadline from “30 days to 90 days for entities created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, and before January 1, 2025, to give those entities additional time to understand the new reporting obligation and collect the necessary information to complete the filing,” FinCEN said. Entities created or registered on or after Jan. 1, 2025, would have 30 days to file their reports with FinCEN. Comments are due by Oct. 30.

Investors in the American energy and biotechnology sectors should be paying close attention to investment review risks based on remarks made by officials during the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. conference earlier this month (see 2309150038), Dechert said in a client alert. The firm said the Biden administration’s focus on clean energy “appears to be an increasingly important consideration in CFIUS’ case reviews,” adding that “a number of officials” at the conference stressed the “importance of preserving U.S. leadership in the energy infrastructure space.” The firm said it expects to see “increasing interest” from CFIUS in transactions involving clean energy products that could be used to fight climate change, such as batteries, aerial vehicles, hydrogen and other energy alternatives.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. cleared a deal for Denmark-based energy company Orsted A/S to purchase land in Massachusetts from Eversource Energy, a U.S.-based electric services company, Squire Patton said in a September client alert. The CFIUS clearance was announced by the parties earlier this month, making the $625 million deal official. The land will be used for “wind development.”

The State Department approved a potential military sale to Kuwait for $150 million and to Saudi Arabia for $500 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Sept. 20. The sale to Kuwait includes repair and recertification services of “Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missiles," and the principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin. The sale to Saudi Arabia includes a "Foreign Military Sales Order (FMSO) II to provide funds for blanket order requisitions under a Cooperative Logistics Supply Support Agreement," and there are no principal contractors involved with this sale.

China again extended its Section 301 retaliatory tariff exclusion period for sorbitol and other non-U.S. agricultural goods, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a September report. The exclusion period was scheduled to expire Sept. 15 but now will remain in effect until April 20, 2024. USDA said this is the sixth time China has extended the exclusion period for sorbitol, adding that the U.S. was the second-largest supplier of sorbitol to China in 2022, with Chinese imports reaching $1.4 million.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection involving import and end-use certificates, its delivery verification procedures and its firearms entry clearance requirements. The import and end-use certificates are obtained by the foreign importer and transmitted to the U.S. exporter, BIS said, and the delivery verification certificate, required by BIS as part of its export control program, must be completed by the ultimate consignee when the goods are delivered. BIS said the firearms entry clearance requirements are “necessary” due to the 2020 shift in export control jurisdiction of certain defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department (see 2001170030), adding that Commerce “must now take over this collection of information.” Comments are due Nov. 20.

The State Department approved a potential $313.4 million military sale to Canada for munitions and “other systems to be integrated into MQ-9Bs,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Sept. 15. The principal contractor will be General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

Taiwan-based carrier Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. violated the Shipping Act by not providing agreed upon space, charging "extracontractual prices and surcharges” and charging unfair detention and demurrage fees, Bed Bath & Beyond said in a recent complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. Bed Bath & Beyond is seeking reparations for the "injuries" caused by Yang Ming, telling the FMC that it may have been subject to more than $700,000 in unfair charges.

A think tank with roots in libertarianism that now supports a carbon tax warned that members of Congress who want to pass a carbon border adjustment tax without a domestic carbon tax face more than just litigation at the World Trade Organization.

The U.S. doesn't have to sacrifice innovation when imposing new regulations on artificial intelligence, including through potential export controls, said Jack Corrigan, a senior research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Corrigan said there is always “tension” between the government’s desire to issue restrictions and industry’s drive to develop new technologies, but “as it relates to AI, regulation doesn't necessarily need to get in the way of innovation.”