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On 17 July 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urged Chinese companies to disclose certain business links they may have to Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. The companies may face compliance risk and supply chain disruptions if they operate in the Xinjiang region of China or do business with companies that operate in the area known for its Uyghur population, the SEC said in new guidance. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which President Biden signed into law in 2021, blocks imports from the region unless a company can prove the products were made without forced labor.

On 19 July 2023, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly released new draft merger guidelines for public comment. The guidelines are intended to explain how the DOJ and FTC will assess whether future mergers and acquisitions may violate US antitrust law. These guidelines represent another step in the Biden Administration’s effort to increase aggressive merger enforcement.

With the new Washington state My Health My Data Act, you may wonder if any exceptions or exemptions apply to your organization. As a reminder, the definition of consumer health data is broad: “personal information that is linked or reasonably linkable to a consumer and that identifies the consumer’s past, present, or future physical or mental health status.” Outside of the broad exclusion of employment context data, the My Health My Data Act’s list of exceptions and exemptions is long but is focused mainly on specific medical and health care contexts where health data is more narrowly defined or otherwise another specific law applying to processing of the data.

The Connecticut Data Privacy Act is operative since 1 July 2023, and so are certain amendments that were signed into law as recently as 26 June 2023. The amendments focus on protecting consumer health data and protecting minors, with additional consumer health data protections already operative but with some obligations related to minors becoming operative mid to late 2024.

Nevada Senate Bill 370 is the third US state law passed this year with specific obligations related to consumer health privacy. Just as with most obligations under the similar Washington state My Health My Data Act, regulated entities are required to comply with the Nevada law from 31 March 2024. Obligations specific to entities processing consumer health data are already operative in Connecticut since 1 July 2023.

Companies that publish or use reviews and testimonials should note the Federal Trade Commission’s new proposed “Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials.” The FTC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would make particular customer review practices illegal, authorize courts to impose civil penalties, and strengthen FTC enforcement actions while deterring misleading marketing strategies.

Development and integration of critical infrastructure for electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) aircraft remains critical for the wide-scale adoption and the future of Advanced Air Mobility. With the path towards certification rapidly gaining momentum, the first commercial eVTOL operations are likely to begin as early as 2025.

Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled  Blog Series: Sanctions Enforcement Around the World – Five Eyes Partners agree to coordinate enforcement on export controls on 11 July 2023. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.  

Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled  OFAC and OFSI Issue Joint Humanitarian Assistance and Food Security Fact Sheet Relating to Russia on 11 July 2023. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.  

On 10 July 2023, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reissued General License 40B, “Authorizing Certain Transactions Involving the Exportation or Reexportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas to Venezuela.” On the same day, OFAC made public regulations to implement Executive Order 14078, “Bolstering Efforts to Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home.”