If the U.S. position on calculating the regional content of automobiles prevails in a USMCA state-to-state dispute, Baker McKenzie associate Eunkyung Kim Shin predicted, companies would be likely to import more parts used to assemble the automobiles. Shin, who spoke at a Baker McKenzie webinar Nov. 15, said that when the entire value of a part counts toward the vehicle regional content threshold once that part meets its own rule of origin, it makes sense to build the part in Mexico, the U.S. or Canada. But if the non-local content of those parts is not disregarded when doing vehicle-level calculations, it might be cheaper just to import the parts from a lower-cost country, she said.
Russia is set to abide by a new deal, brokered by the U.N., allowing Ukrainian grain and other farm products to be exported via the Black Sea, Bloomberg reported Nov. 15. Russia will let the deal renew after it expires Nov. 19, individuals familiar with the situation told Bloomberg, though they didn't specify whether Russia would look to add new conditions in return for the extension. Turkey and the U.N. brokered the original 120-day deal allowing Ukraine to resume its seaborne exports from its ports after Russia's invasion. The new accord would enact a 120-day extension unless one of the parties pulls out or modifies it, Bloomberg said. The U.N. said it will help ensure unimpeded exports of Russian food and fertilizers.
Australia, New Zealand and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations completed negotiations this week to upgrade the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. The upgrade will “strengthen and improve” the trade deal with new provisions on electronic commerce, competition, customs procedures, trade facilitation, rules of origin and more, Australia said. It also will “support traders to conduct business in the region, particularly when it comes to completing documentation -- everything from origin certification to invoicing requirements,” the country said.
The European Commission last week amended two frequently asked questions under its Russia sanctions regime guidance. Under its asset freeze FAQs, the commission added FAQ 15, which says voting rights by shareholders with qualifying holdings in an EU ban should be viewed as an intangible economic resource given that they can be used to obtain funds, goods or services. Under the oil imports FAQ section, the commission added FAQ 2, which includes information on imports into the EU or the purchase or transfer of goods that originate in a third country but are mixed during transport with goods that originate in Russia.
The Dominican Republic is continuing to ban imports of U.S. poultry from states with “any type of detection” of highly pathogenic avian influenza, even if the outbreak was reported as “non-poultry,” USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a Nov. 8 report. USDA said DR officials “continue to hold to a different interpretation” of the section of the World Organization for Animal Health that defines poultry and non-poultry outbreaks, adding the Caribbean nation believes non-poultry detections “represent a high risk of disease transfer” to its domestic industry. But the DR is allowing imports of certain U.S. poultry on a case-by-case basis if the importer can provide a traceability certificate “that states the origin of all poultry flock processed within a facility,” USDA said. The agency also noted that all U.S. poultry exports require an import license from the DR through the “electronic VUCE system prior to shipment.”
Three U.S. citizens and Quadrant Magnetics were charged with wire fraud, violating the Arms Export Control Act and smuggling goods relating to their participation in an illegal scheme to ship export-controlled defense-related technical data to China, DOJ announced. They also allegedly supplied DOD with Chinese-origin rare earth magnets for aviation systems and military items, DOJ said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Russia-related General License 53, which authorizes transactions necessary for the "compensation" of employees of diplomatic or consular missions of the Russian government. The authorization does not cover debit to an account owned by the Russian Central Bank, the National Wealth Fund of Russia or the Russian Ministry of Finance. OFAC also published new frequently asked question 1096, which explains how the authorization applies to transactions related to Russian missions located both in or outside the U.S. The license "authorizes the payment of salaries to employees of Russian missions that may otherwise be prohibited by Directive 4," OFAC said, including payments payment originated by the Russian Finance Ministry from a non-blocked Russian bank. Directive 4, issued by OFAC in February, blocks transfers of assets to or on behalf of the Central Bank of Russia, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Russian Ministry of Finance (see 2202280043).
The Office of Foreign Asset Control’s redesignation of Tornado Cash last week (see 2211080050) may have been aimed at bolstering the agency’s legal standing against the virtual currency mixer, according to a Nov. 9 report from MoneyLaundering.com, a news site operated by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.
As U.S. chip and technology companies continue to grapple with the U.S’s latest export restrictions on China (see 2211010042), a number of firms fear the controls will hurt their sales and exacerbate uncertainty in the semiconductor sector and the industry’s supply chains. In filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission this month, at least one firm projected revenue losses while others said they are still assessing the impact of the complex controls and whether they can secure export licenses.
New U.K. sanctions regulations will enter into force on Dec. 5. The measures move up the implementation date for import bans relating to Russian oil and oil products, from Dec. 31; bar the supply or delivery by ship of Russian oil and oil products from Russia to a third country or from a third country to another third country; ban the provision of financial services to facilitate the supply or delivery of Russian oil and oil products from Russia to a third country; grant exceptions to the measures where the banned oil and oil products originate in a non-Russian country and are not owned by a person connected with Russia and are only being loaded in, leaving or transiting through Russia; and give the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation the power to hit offenders with civil monetary penalties.