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It’s a Plane: Significant Modifications do not Result in Substantial Transformation

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.13.17

On March 10, 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a final determination under the Trade Agreements Act that the country of origin of a Brazilian-manufactured military cargo airplane would remain Brazil, even after the aircraft undergoes significant conversion into a civil fire-fighting aircraft within the United States. According to CBP, the U.S.-origin changes to the aircraft—which include removing and adding various systems and components to install fire suppression capability—are not sufficient to change the aircraft’s “fundamental identity” and thus, do not constitute “substantial transformation.” The CBP emphasized that the aircraft would maintain its “most important” systems, the “basic structural integrity and the aerodynamics of the aircraft” would remain unchanged, and there was no evidence to demonstrate meaningful changes to the aircraft’s power, speed and range, or to the electronics and instruments used to fly the plane.

Insights

Client Alert | 6 min read | 03.04.25

Coalition of the Willing: EU and UK, but Not the US, Impose New Russia Sanctions

As they have on each previous anniversary, the EU and UK released new sanctions against Russia on February 24, 2025, to mark the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the first time, the United States did not do the same, electing to issue a limited set of Iran-related sanctions on the anniversary instead. The EU package was more fulsome than the UK package, including new port and airport restrictions, additional trade restrictions (including an aluminium ban), enhanced military end-user restrictions, and additional asset freezes and vessel designations....