Buy American Rules Update There have been fairly significant changes to the Buy American rules under both the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, or DFARS. They relate to when a product qualifies as a domestic end product, and thereby is eligible for the Buy American bidding preference. In…
The Federal Trade Commission’s Made in the USA Rules A notice appeared in the May 19th Federal Register detailing a consent agreement reached with a company called Lions Not Sheep over what the Federal Trade Commission alleged were false and misleading statements regarding the origin of their products. In the following transcript, George Thompson discusses the…
Sanctions imposed on Russia by the BIS The February 24 sanctions imposed on Russia by the BIS have put in place a vastly expanded definition of the foreign-direct product rule, which will pose significant compliance challenges. In the following transcript George Thompson details which products are affected by the new rule and how it will…
The Unverified List The Commerce Department’s listing of foreign companies subject to restrictions on all items included in the Export Administration Regulations, has received increased attention as a result of the recent addition of 33 Chinese industrial and technology companies to the list. The following transcript from George Thompson‘s video, explains what the Unverified List…
Owner of Maryland Export Business Sentenced to Federal Prison for Attempting to Smuggle Items Out of the U.S. Without the Required Export License Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III today sentenced Jorge Orencel, age 65, of Silver Spring, Maryland, to six months in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised…
The Foreign-Direct Product Rule is a provision of the Export Administration Regulations The following transcript from George W. Thompson, explains the criteria under which some foreign products are subject to the EAR and are thereby within the scope of export controls even if they have no physical U.S. origin content. Hello again, this is George…
Key Points On March 7, 2022, new U.S. export controls applicable to “cybersecurity items” took effect based on an interim final rule published by BIS on October 21, 2021 (the “Cyber Rule”). The controls under the Cyber Rule are complex because they restrict exports intended for malicious cyber activities and to certain countries and governments, but…
The U.S. Commerce Department, through its Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), publicly identified commercial and private aircraft that have flown into Russia in apparent violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). In so doing, BIS is notifying the public that providing any form of service to these aircraft requires authorization. Absent such authorization, any…
REGULATORY UPDATE The International Air Transport Association (IATA) now forbids shipping stand-alone lithium metal batteries, UN3090, and stand-alone lithium-ion batteries, UN3480, classified as Section II shipments via air. Section II shipments are smaller shipments of lithium batteries that had previously been granted exceptions for many of the IATA’s dangerous air goods shipping rules. The updated…
Regulatory Alert: APHIS Original Phytosanitary Certificate and Forms Required Effective April 1, 2022, February 7, 2022 WHAT IS THIS APHIS DATE CHANGE ABOUT? In response to the unprecedented challenges facing the trade from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) allowed importers of plant commodities to upload copies of phytosanitary…
By Scott Lincicome // CATO Institute As we at Cato frequently explain, “trade remedies” tariffs — antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard actions — are one of U.S. trade policy’s dirty little secrets. They’re insanely (and intentionally) complex, buried in layers of regulatory mumbo‐jumbo, and thus mostly ignored by politicians, media, and laypeople who often claim or believe that…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: What Importers Must Know New legislation that is intended to exclude products made in whole or in part with forced labor by persecuted minorities in China from entry into the United States will go into effect on June 21, 2022. The new legislation creates a rebuttable presumption that goods…