The Treasury Department is likely to release its draft outbound investment regulations in the next several months, setting them up to potentially take effect before year's end, said foreign investment lawyer Jonathan Gafni of Linklaters.
An investigation by the House Select Committee on China found that five U.S. venture capital firms have invested more than $3 billion in Chinese technology companies, many of which aid China’s military, surveillance apparatus and human rights violations, the committee said on Feb. 8.
The U.K. government faced pressure from Parliament this week about whether it failed to sanction companies owned by Iran’s state-backed petrochemicals firm, allowing it to evade western restrictions by maintaining accounts with at least two London banks. Members of Parliament called for an investigation and said the government may need more sanctions enforcement resources.
The Federal Maritime Commission may need to change the way it adjudicates emergency surcharge waivers requested by carriers, at least one shipping industry official said during an informal Feb. 7 FMC hearing on Red Sea shipping disruptions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should get a “significant” funding boost next year so its export control authorities can keep pace with emerging technologies and so its enforcement branch can continue increasing penalties on violators, the top Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee said this week.
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The top Democrat on the House Select Committee on China said he believes Congress will be able to overcome its internal disagreements to pass legislation restricting outbound investment in China.
Technology companies, trade groups, think tanks and researchers urged the government to be cautious as it evaluates its semiconductor-related export controls and prepares new ones, warning that misguided restrictions could cede American technology leadership to China, hurt the competitiveness of U.S. companies and raise the complexity of an already fraught compliance landscape.
A new executive order signed this week allows the U.S. to sanction "foreign persons" responsible for an increase in violence in the West Bank. The order, signed by President Joe Biden Feb. 1, was announced alongside sanctions against four Israelis that recently carried out attacks against Palestinians and a new Treasury Department guidance alerting banks about how they can prevent the financing of violence in the region.
The U.S. may need to take stronger export control actions to stifle Chinese progress in artificial intelligence, including broader semiconductor-related restrictions, a U.S. congressional commission heard this week. But the commission was also warned about the dangers of overly broad controls on more emerging technologies, such as quantum, which experts said could hurt instead of help U.S. competition with China.