In near lightning speed, Congress now has passed, and the President is expected to imminently sign into law, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA), a bipartisan piece of legislation that, while applicable more...more
12/4/2020
/ Audits ,
China ,
Controlled Foreign Corporations ,
Corporate Governance ,
Delisting ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Investors ,
Listing Standards ,
New Legislation ,
PCAOB ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Exchange
On November 12, 2020, President Trump issued an executive order (Order) that effectively prohibits US persons from transacting in publicly traded securities of Chinese firms determined by the US government to be owned or...more
Hours before its expiration, OFAC extended and re-issued General License 8 as General License 8F on April 21, 2020. The new General License implements significant changes in US sanctions policy with respect to the oil and gas...more
In response to shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) critical to limiting the spread of and mitigating the impact of COVID-19, the United States has recently issued a series of rules, memoranda, and other guidance...more
4/22/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Exports ,
FEMA ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Imports ,
Medical Equipment ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Tariffs ,
USTR
Today, under its Venezuela sanctions authorities, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Rosneft Trading S.A. (RTSA), the trading arm of Russian energy company Rosneft Oil...more
On January 31, 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury removed sanctions on COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian). The delisting may have resulted from US-Chinese...more
2/12/2020
/ China ,
Crude Oil ,
Delisting ,
General Licenses ,
Imports ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
SDN List ,
Shipping ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Agreements ,
Trade Negotiations ,
U.S. Treasury
This briefing is intended to provide an update on two recent developments under the US sanctions regime.
..The first one is the introduction of US sanctions related to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which threaten to...more
1/30/2020
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Blocking Sanctions ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Construction Industry ,
Contract Formation ,
Defense Sector ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Fair Notice ,
Federal Budget ,
Foreign Policy ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Pipelines ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Summary Judgment ,
Vessels
On December 13, 2019, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a revised Export Control and Sanctions Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations (Revised EC/S Policy), clarifying its prior guidance on voluntary...more
1/14/2020
/ Amended Regulation ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Forfeiture ,
Remediation ,
Voluntary Disclosure
The extraterritorial reach of statutes seeking to prohibit unscrupulous financial practices has been debated and watched as both entities and individuals seek to determine the scope of the United States’ government’s ability...more
Consistent with the ongoing United States (US) strategy of limiting engagement with China in the high-tech sector (especially telecommunications) on national security grounds, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of...more
6/3/2019
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Entity List ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Huawei ,
Licensing Rules ,
National Security ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
Telecommunications ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On May 2, 2019, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued guidance titled “A Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments” (Guidance), providing direction regarding what OFAC considers to...more
5/15/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Audits ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Management ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dubai ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Guidance Update ,
Hong Kong ,
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) ,
Internal Controls ,
Monetary Authority of Singapore ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Personal Liability ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Singapore ,
Training ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK
On Monday, the United States announced that it would not extend the temporary waivers that were granted to eight countries last November allowing them to purchase Iranian oil without threat of sanctions. The temporary waivers...more
4/29/2019
/ Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
NDAA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Secondary Sanctions ,
Waivers
Arising out of last week’s announcement by the United States to recognize the opposition government in Venezuela, on Monday the Treasury Department designated Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), on the Specially Designated...more
On December 19, 2018, the US Department of the Treasury notified Congress of its intention to terminate sanctions imposed on En+ Group plc (En+), as well as its subsidiaries, United Company RUSAL (Rusal) and JSC EuroSibEnergo...more
On November 9, 2018, the US Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued proposed regulations addressing statutory changes to the section 401(k) hardship distribution rules, including changes made...more
As of November 5, 2018, US secondary sanctions against Iran are back in force, and more than 700 Iranian individuals and entities have been re-added or newly added to the US Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons...more