April 2024 Export Practitioner

The president of Orlando, Florida-based steel trading firm Metalhouse LLC, was sentenced to six years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering to promote violations of U.S. sanctions against Sergey Kurchenko, a pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch.   A business associate, a Belarusian national residing in Miami, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in the scheme.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Chair Erica Y. Williams announced a record $25 million fine sanctioning KPMG Netherlands for widespread improper answer sharing and the firm's multiple misrepresentations about its knowledge of the misconduct.

Two Russian nationals pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) in connection with a scheme to acquire and unlawfully export controlled aviation technology to Russian end users. Beginning in or about May 2022 through May 2023, the defendants conspired to obtain orders for various aircraft parts and components from Russian buyers – primarily commercial airline companies – and then fulfill those requests by acquiring the parts from the United States suppliers.

The USTR has requested a Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) panel under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to resolve a labor dispute at call center operator Atento Servicios, S.A. de C.V. .    At the conclusion of its 45-day review period, Mexico found a denial of rights had existed, but determined that Atento Servicios had taken the necessary actions to remediate the denial of rights during Mexico’s review period. The United States disagrees with this determination and is requesting establishment of an RRM panel to review the situation.

Airline industry and labor groups are calling for restrictions on Chinese Airline flights to the US, citing unfair competition. The groups have asked for a "pause" to additional passenger flights between the United States and China "until U.S. workers and businesses are guaranteed equality of access in the marketplace, free from the existing harmful anti-competitive policies of the Chinese government. "

The U.S. and UK Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will see them work together to develop tests for the most advanced AI models, following through on commitments made at the AI Safety Summit last November.   Signed by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, the partnership will see both countries working to align their scientific approaches and working closely to accelerate and rapidly iterate robust suites of evaluations for AI models, systems, and agents.

U.S. Department of Commerce and TSMC Arizona  a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide up to $6.6 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at all U.S. ports of entry will detain work gloves manufactured by Shanghai Select Safety Products Company, Limited and its two subsidiaries.. CBP issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against Shanghai Select Safety Products Company, Limited and its two subsidiaries Nantong and HK, based on information that reasonably indicates the use of convict labor in violation of 19 U.S.C. § 1307 in the production of that merchandise.

The United States announced two resolutions of labor disputes initiated under the USMCA facility-specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in Mexico last year.   The Turkish owners of the Teklas Automotive hose assembly plant and the Mexican owners of the Draxton automotive casting operations, both in central Mexico,   conducted remediation satisfactory to US officials. USTR has directed the Secretary of the Treasury to resume liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the facilities.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule significantly reducing licensing requirements for Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) to foster defense trade and technological innovation. BIS is removing Commerce Control List (CCL) license requirements to allow Commerce-controlled military items, missile technology-related items, and hot section engine-related items to be exported or reexported to Australia and the UK without a license.  Similar relaxation by the State Department on ITAR controlled technology can be expected "over the course of the next 120 days," according to a statement.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Department of Commerce is announcing its recruitment of candidates to serve on one of its six Technical Advisory Committees (“TACs”). TAC …

The United States will publish a list of advanced Chinese chipmaking factories barred from receiving key tools, Reuters reported Thursday, citing three separate sources. The list could be released in the next couple of months, according to the report..

BIS has published corrections and amendments to the October 25 2023 Semicinductor and Advanced Computing Rules. This rule corrects inadvertent errors in those rules and makes additional clarifications for the two rules. China has expressed strong opposition to the latest U.S. revised rules on semiconductor export rules, saying that it will disrupt the global semiconductor market as well as cooperation between enterprises.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security 2024 Update Conference kicked off Wednesday to a full house in Washington, with over 1,100 attendees registered and many breakout sessions extended to overflow rooms with video feeds. While Commerce Secretary Gina Raimonda was unable to attend in person, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez greeted attendees with a recap of the work undertaken since the last conference in 2022, and insights on where things are headed.