The Month in International Trade – January 2024

Crowell & Moring International Names Geralyn Ritter New CEO

Crowell Partner Evan Chuck Named an LA Business Journal Minority Leader of Influence

Top Trade Developments

• OFAC Updates Civil Monetary Penalties
• OFAC Re-Adds Yemen’s Houthis to SDN List
• BIS Announces Further Updates to OEE’s Voluntary Self-Disclosure Process for Minor Violations
• New Reports Document Best Practices for Avoiding Uyghur Forced Labor in RE Supply Chains
• Venezuelan Sanctions: Relaxations in Jeopardy
• DoD is Making its List, and Checking it Twice: DoD Updates 1260H Chinese Military Companies List
• Who I(aa)S Your Foreign Customer? Department of Commerce Proposes Foreign Customer Identification Requirements for U.S. IaaS Providers

Crowell Speaks

This news bulletin is provided by the International Trade Group of Crowell & Moring. If you have questions or need assistance on trade law matters, please contact Jana del-Cerro, Anand Sithian, or Simeon Yerokun or any member of the International Trade Group.

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Crowell & Moring International Names Geralyn Ritter New CEO

Crowell & Moring International LLC (CMI) has named Geralyn Ritter, a seasoned and highly regarded global health care and public policy leader, as president and CEO. Ritter brings more than 25 years of diverse business, legal, and government experience to her new role, with particular depth in pharmaceuticals, health care, international trade, environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), and global public policy. For additional information, please see the official announcement.

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Crowell Partner Evan Chuck Named an LA Business Journal Minority Leader of Influence

We are pleased to announce that our partner Evan Chuck is named in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys 2024” list. Evan and the other professionals were nominated and “chosen based on a demonstration of impact made on the profession and on the Los Angeles community.” For additional information, please see the official announcement.

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Top Trade Developments

OFAC Updates Civil Monetary Penalties

Last month, OFAC announced it is increasing its maximum amount of the civil monetary penalties (CMP) that may be assessed under relevant OFAC regulations by implementing the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 for 2024.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this article.

For more information, contact: Dj Wolff, Aryn Gruneisen, Edward Goetz

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OFAC Re-Adds Yemen’s Houthis to SDN List

On January 17, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced the re-addition of Ansarallah, better known as the Houthis, to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (“SDN List”) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, just shy of three years after delisting the group to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

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For more information, contact: Dj Wolff, Andrew Schlegel

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BIS Announces Further Updates to OEE’s Voluntary Self-Disclosure Process for Minor Violations

On January 16, 2024, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod announced further updates to the EAR voluntary self-disclosure (VSD) process, all designed to incentivize the prioritization of export control compliance resources of the U.S. Government, industry, and academia.

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For more information, contact: Jeff Snyder, Jason Prince, Jackie Schaeffer, Dilan Wickrema

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New Reports Document Best Practices for Avoiding Uyghur Forced Labor in RE Supply Chains

The United Kingdom (“UK”)-based Anti-Slavery International, in combination with the Investor Alliance for Human Rights and the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, has published a series of reports addressing the issue of forced labor in solar and electric vehicle supply chains relating to Uyghur and other Turkic ethnic minorities. These reports aim to assist investors, governments, and other key stakeholders in the green energy sector transition away from the fossil fuel economy without becoming reliant on renewable energy and other clean technology products manufactured using state-imposed forced labor.

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For more information, contact: John Brew, Simeon Yerokun, Andrew Schlegel

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Venezuelan Sanctions: Relaxations in Jeopardy

Late last month, the U.S. government partially re-implemented certain recently relaxed sanctions against Venezuela. According to a statement released by the United States Department of State on January 30, the absence of meaningful progress in allowing candidates of the opposition Unitary Platform to stand for office in the upcoming Venezuelan presidential election has led to the re-imposition of economic measures designed to deprive the Maduro government of funding.

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For more information, contact: Dj Wolff, Daniel Gyamfi, Andrew Schlegel

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DoD is Making its List, and Checking it Twice: DoD Updates 1260H Chinese Military Companies List

On January 31, 2024, the Department of Defense (DoD) updated the 1260H List of entities identified as “Chinese military companies” operating in the United States, as it is required to do at least annually by Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.  Section 1260H defines a “Chinese military company” as an entity that is:

• directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or beneficially owned by, or in an official or unofficial capacity acting as an agent of or on behalf of, the People’s Liberation Army orany other organization subordinate to the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party or identified as a military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base and
• engaged in providing commercial services, manufacturing, producing, or exporting.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this alert.

For more information, contact: Addie Cliffe, Jana del-Cerro, Stephanie Crawford, Alexandra Barbee-Garrett, Dilan Wickrema

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Who I(aa)S Your Foreign Customer? Department of Commerce Proposes Foreign Customer Identification Requirements for U.S. IaaS Providers

On January 29, 2024, the Department of Commerce released a proposed rule:  Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities, which solicits comments regarding a proposed  new set of regulations that would introduce significant new requirements for U.S.-based Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers. 

The proposed rule implements requirements from the January 2021 Executive Order Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities and part of the October 2023 Executive Order Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. 

 If Commerce implements the regulations as proposed, IaaS providers would be required to create a Customer Identification Program (CIP), ensure any foreign resellers maintain a CIP, track all customer identities, verify the identities of foreign customers, and report certain transactions implicating large AI models that could be used for malicious cyber-enabled activities.  The Department is soliciting comments on all aspects of the proposed rule by April 29, 2024.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this alert.

For more information, contact: Dj Wolff, Daniel Gyamfi, Andrew Schlegel

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Crowell Speaks

“Global Business Considerations” - The National Bar Association Commercial Law Section’s 37th Annual Corporate Counsel (February 15, 2024). Speaker: Simeon Yerokun.

“High priority goods, military, dual-use goods identification for trade operations teams: Recommendations and review” – Export Controls and Military, Dual-Use Goods – Seminar for Financial Institutions (February 13, 2024). Speakers: Dj Wolff and Jana del-Cerro.

“Proactive: Strategies to Anticipate and Reduce Risk” - PLI's Investing, Trading, and Doing Deals in a Dynamic World 2024: Sticks and Carrots; Risks and Opportunities (February 8, 2024). Panelist: Jason Prince.

“International Trade Sanctions: Russian, American and European perspectives” - Global Legal Customs Association (GLCA) Conference 2024 (February 8, 2024). Panelist: David Stepp.

“Watching Out for Riptides: Supply Chain Red Flags” - North Carolina Bar Association: Red Flags: Navigating the Hurricane (2024 Corporate Counsel Section CLE) (February 2, 2024). Panelists: Caroline Brown, David Stepp, and Jeremy Iloulian.

“Trade Controls” - IPBA Los Angeles Conference - Doing Business with Asia: IP, Trade, and Investigations (February 1, 2024). Speakers: Evan Chuck and Jana del-Cerro.

“Caught in a Web: Companies and Investors Grapple with US China Tensions and ESG” - ACC In-House Counsel Conference (January 30, 2024). Speakers: Evan Chuck.

“Trillion Dollar Questions: How Sanctions, Outbound Investment Restrictions, CFIUS/FDI, and Supply Chains Can Further Complicate U.S./China Investment” - Presentation to Council of Public Funds Compliance Officers (January 28, 2024). Speaker: Caroline Brown.

Matthew Axelrod: Corporate Self-Disclosure for Export Control Violations (January 16, 2024). Panelist: Jana del-Cerro.

 “GATS and JSI Structure: Services and E-Commerce” – WITA Academy’s Virtual Intensive Trade Seminar on the World Trade Organization (January 16, 2024). Speaker: Robert Holleyman.

International Trade Cases To Watch In 2024
January 1, 2024 – Law360
Related Professionals: John Brew