Reliance on Supplier's Country of Origin Certification Reasonable
Client Alert | 1 min read | 09.04.14
On August 29, 2014, the D.C. Circuit affirmed the grant of summary judgment for the contractor in a qui tam FCA case alleging Govplace had violated the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) by unreasonably relying on the distributor's country of origin certification and selling IT hardware that allegedly failed to comply with the TAA. The court concluded not only that Govplace could reasonably rely on the distributor's certification (a practice it had disclosed to GSA during Contractor Administrator Visits), but also that, because the hardware was generally manufactured in both TAA-designated countries and in non-designated countries, neither an email from the manufacturer's employee nor a competitor's price list suggesting conflicting country of origin information undermined Govplace's continued reliance on the distributor's certification.
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Client Alert | 4 min read | 11.18.25
DOJ Announces Major Enforcement Actions Targeting North Korean Remote IT Worker Schemes
On November 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a sweeping series of enforcement actions, including four guilty pleas and more than $15 million in civil forfeitures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) for remote information technology (IT) worker schemes. These actions underscore the federal government’s escalating focus on the exposure of U.S. companies to North Korean IT worker infiltration, following a series of U.S. Government action against the DPRK.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.18.25
Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25
Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025
