Years after the U.S. first imposed trade restrictions against Huawei, the government’s strategy to restrain the Chinese technology company remains unclear, technology policy experts said this week.
The Treasury Department recently published more guidance on its outbound investment prohibition and notification rules (see 2412160044), including new FAQs on how certain portions of the rules apply to in-house lawyers, the rule’s “knowledge standard,” the scope of transactions that are covered, and joint filings.
A new Bureau of Industry and Security rule that will place new, worldwide export controls on advanced computing chips and certain closed artificial intelligence model weights was widely panned by the American semiconductor and technology industry this week, even as U.S. officials said the restrictions are necessary to keep American companies ahead of their Chinese competitors.
The Biden administration’s upcoming AI chip-related export controls likely will upset key U.S. allies, especially the EU, by reinforcing the notion that the U.S. relies too heavily on extraterritorial controls and is “hellbent” on maintaining American technology leadership, the Center for European Policy Analysis said this week.
Ocean carriers must begin filing annual export strategies and policies with the Federal Maritime Commission starting March 1 as part of a broader effort by the FMC to better regulate carriers that unfairly refuse vessel or cargo space to exporters.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to list e 4-chloromethcathinone, a central nervous system stimulant, under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released Dec. 27. “If finalized, this action would impose the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess) or propose to handle 4-chloromethcathinone.” Comments are due Jan. 29.
A dispute panel ruled that Mexico's ban on genetically modified white corn, along with its intention to phase out GMO yellow corn for industrial foods and animal feed, violate the NAFTA successor agreement, because they "are not based on relevant international standards, guidelines or recommendations, or on an assessment, as appropriate to the circumstances, of the risk to human, animal, or plant life or health," and Mexico didn't conduct its own documented risk assessment, or base the decree on science.
The FDA is warning U.S. exporters about a recently implemented EU law that requires all importers and producers of bee-related products, including honey, beeswax, royal jelly, propolis and pollen, to be registered in the bloc’s Trade Control and Expert System. Before registering, FDA said exporters or their suppliers “must successfully complete an on-site assessment” by USDA before sending those goods to the EU, including a USDA Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Verification Survey, Plant Survey and Food Defense System Survey. After that assessment, companies need to “apply for inclusion on the export lists via” the FDA’s Export Listing Module, and the agency said it will then verify that the applicant “maintains good regulatory standing.”
New guidance published by the EU last week outlines steps people and companies should take to make sure their dual-use goods and technology aren’t being sent to Russia, including red flags they should be monitoring as part of their compliance programs. It also offers insight into how the European Commission interprets violations of the bloc’s anti-circumvention laws, with a specific focus on minimum due diligence expectations for businesses and banks.
Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology on Dec. 9 filed a rebuke of its designation as a Chinese military company, urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reverse the decision due to a host of alleged evidentiary and procedural errors. Hesai said the Pentagon, which recently relisted the company, "still cannot find a single connection to the Chinese military or defense industrial base" (Hesai Technology Co. v. U.S., D.D.C. # 24-01381).