The Office of Foreign Assets Control is updating its general licenses that authorize certain payments for legal services from funds originating outside the U.S., it announced in a final rule effective Dec. 19. The rule is applicable March 12.
Country of origin cases
Semiconductor companies should expect more export control rules from the Bureau of Industry and Security before the Trump administration takes office, including possibly new licensing rules and record-keeping requirements for certain chip exports to destinations outside of China, trade lawyer Charles Capito said.
Donald Trump's return to the White House brings a "lack of predictability," Baker McKenzie attorneys said during a webinar last week on how threatened tariffs could affect countries around the globe.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined C.H. Robinson, one of the world’s largest logistics firms, more than $250,000 after OFAC said its non-U.S. subsidiaries violated sanctions against Iran and Cuba. The five subsidiaries allegedly provided freight brokerage or transportation services for 82 shipments to or from Iran or involving Iranian or Cuban goods, while one of the companies also did business with sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed a range of Latin America-related entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List, including multiple people and entities the agency had accused of having links to illegal drug trafficking.
China appears to be preparing to use its own set of extraterritorial export controls against the U.S. in response to the Biden administration’s latest chip restrictions and Entity List additions, an official with the U.S.-China Business Council said.
A Chinese national was charged for his role in a scheme to illegally ship export-controlled "defense-related technical data" to China and illegally supply the Department of Defense with Chinese-origin rare earth magnets for aviation systems and military items, DOJ announced.
Nearly half of U.S. companies surveyed by the Bureau of Industry and Security this year said they didn’t know whether their products contained any Chinese-made, mature-node semiconductors, BIS said in a summary of those survey results released Dec. 6.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has invited Costa Rica to join the pact, Canada said in a statement released Nov. 30. At the eighth CPTPP Commission meeting in Vancouver, the commission agreed to begin the accession process, originally requested by Costa Rica in 2022, noting the Central American country's "history as a supporter of the rules-based trading system, its experience with high-standard trade and investment rules, and [its] affirmation of its intention to comply with the obligations of the CPTPP." The accession process begins with the formation of an Accession Working Group, which will establish a timeline for Costa Rica's membership.
One day after the U.S. published a new set of semiconductor-related export controls aimed at China (see 2412020016), Beijing announced a ban on certain key critical minerals and other dual-use items being shipped to the U.S. for military uses.