On July 1, 2020, the US Department of State, jointly with the US Department of Treasury, the US Department of Commerce, and the US Department of Homeland Security, issued an advisory (the “Advisory”) to caution US businesses about the risks of supply chain links to entities that allegedly engage in human rights abuses including the forced labor of Uyghurs, ethnic Kyrgyz, ethnic Kazakhs and other Muslim minority groups, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“Xinjiang”) in China…
On 14 July 2020, the UK Government announced that Huawei would be banned from supplying new equipment for UK 5G networks from 31 December 2020, and that all existing Huawei equipment will be removed from the UK’s 5G networks by the end of 2027. The decision was taken in a meeting of the UK National Security Council (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It follows new advice provided by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the impact…
On July 17, 2020, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice [Docket Number USTR-2020-0029] regarding possible extensions to particular product exclusions that are scheduled to expire on September 1, 2020. USTR previously decided to consider a possible extension for up to twelve months of particular exclusions granted under the initial five product exclusion notices. USTR has decided to consider a possible extension for up to twelve…
On July 15, 2020, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice of product exclusion amendments from the action involving products from China with an annual trade volume of $200 Bn. The notice announces USTR’s determination to make technical amendments to previously announced exclusions. The Annex to the notice contains 14 technical amendments to US notes 20(ll)(24) and (25); US notes 20(vv)(71) and (116); US notes 20(xx)(20),…
On July 15, 2020, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice that announces USTR’s determination to make a technical amendment to a previously granted exclusion, which is retroactive to the date of publication of the original exclusion and does not extend the period for the original exclusion. US Customs and Border Protection will issue instructions on entry guidance and implementation. The Annex to this notice makes…
On July 14, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (“HKAA”) providing for the imposition of sanctions on foreign persons who materially contribute to the undermining of Hong Kong’s autonomy by the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and foreign financial institutions who engage in significant transactions with such foreign persons. During a press conference announcing the signing of the HKAA, President Trump also indicated that he had signed an Executive…
On July 14, 2020, the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published in the Federal Register an interim rule [FAC 2020-08; FAR Case 2019-009; Docket No. FAR-2019-0009, Sequence No. 1] that amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 889(a)(1)(B) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 (Pub. L. 115-232) (“the Act”). Paragraph (a)(1)(B) of section 889…
On July 10, 2020, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will publish in the Federal Register a notice of product exclusions from the action involving imposition of 15% additional duties (lowered to 7.5% on January 22, 2020) on approximately $300Bn in Chinese products. The USTR initiated a product exclusion process in October 2019, and interested persons have submitted requests for the exclusion of specific products. This notice announces USTR’s determination to grant…
On July 9, 2020, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will publish in the Federal Register a notice of product exclusions extensions under the $34Bn (Tranche 1) action. USTR initiated the exclusion process in July 2018 and, to date, has granted 10 sets of exclusions under the $34 billion action. The sixth set of exclusions was published in July 2019 and will expire in July 2020. On April 30, 2020, USTR established…
The US Administration has taken a series of actions in recent days to tighten US export controls for Hong Kong and to sanction Chinese government officials in response to the decision of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to impose a new national security law for Hong Kong. Most significantly, these actions put Hong Kong on a par with China with respect to license exception eligibility under the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by suspending all EAR…