USDA last week urged U.S. exporters to review the U.K.’s post-Brexit system of import controls on animals, animal products, plants and plant products before it goes into force Jan. 31 for the EU and April 30 for the rest of the world. The new system will introduce new export health certificate requirements for certain U.K. imports, the agency’s Foreign Agricultural Service said, and some import checks may be conducted remotely through new trusted trader schemes. The agency also said the U.K. is hoping the new regime will “reduce routine checks for some” low-risk products.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent increase in enforcement of anti-boycott regulations signals the agency will “continue to be active in this space,” and companies may want to review their compliance programs, Arnold & Porter said in a Nov. 28 client advisory. “It may be time for U.S. companies and their foreign subsidiaries -- especially those conducting business in or involving the Middle East region -- to establish, review, and/or update their antiboycott compliance programs,” the firm said.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a final rule this week to delay the deadline for newly created companies to comply with its new beneficial ownership information reporting requirements (see 2308160023). The change, proposed in September, extends that deadline from 30 days to 90 days after the company is created, and it applies only to companies created or registered on or after Jan. 1, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2025. FinCEN said the extension will give those entities more time to understand the new reporting obligations, which aims to provide more information to law enforcement and national security agencies as they look to prevent sanctioned parties and others from hiding money or property in the U.S. The rule takes effect Jan. 1.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a reminder to industry that on Nov. 18 it officially migrated to the “FedRAMP High instance of a multifactor authentication solution” in its Defense Export Control and Compliance System to improve security (see 2310170005). All users who didn't log into DECCS before Nov, 18 will need to contact the DDTC Help Desk to have their account password reset, the agency said. "Once reset, users will be able to log into DECCS as normal."
The State Department approved a potential $52.1 million military sale to South Korea, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 15. The sale includes “AIM-9X Block II and Block II+ (Plus) Sidewinder Missiles” and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
The State Department approved a potential $650 million military sale to South Korea, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 14. The sale includes “Standard Missile 6 Block I (SM-6 Blk I)” and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
The State Department approved a potential $2.53 billion military sale to Romania, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 9. The sale includes M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks” and related equipment, and the principal contractors will be General Dynamics Land Systems, BAE Systems, Leonardo DRS, Honeywell Aerospace, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, L3 Harris, American Apex Corp., Allison Transmissions, Pearson Engineering, Amentum, CAE, Palomar, Boeing, Fibrotex and US Ordnance.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has resolved an outage that impacted its customer service email address last week, the agency said, adding that it’s processing emails sent during the outage in the order they were received.
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will touch on some trade issues during a planned meeting in California on Nov. 15, but the two leaders won’t delve into specifics, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters last week. The two sides aren’t expecting a “long list of outcomes or deliverables” to result from the meeting, the official said. “The goals here really are about managing the competition, preventing the downside risk of conflict and ensuring channels of communication are open."
The Bureau of Industry and Security is pushing its annual update conference until next year, the agency announced on its website. The conference was originally scheduled for Nov. 28-30 in Washington but now will be held March 27-29, 2024, BIS said. Existing registrations will remain valid for the new conference dates, but attendees and exhibitors may request refunds.