On 24 September 2021, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry published a “Notice of Request for Public Comments on Risks in the Semiconductor Supply Chain.” The Notice seeks responses from various parties in the semiconductor supply chain about current shortages and related issues. Comments in response to the Notice are due by 8 November 2021.
We are pleased to invite you to our annual virtual Global Year-End Review of Import/Export/Trade Compliance Developments. Our international trade compliance lawyers from around the world will review the major global legislative, judicial and administrative activities and trends in export controls, trade sanctions, customs compliance, and import requirements which will be 16-18 November 2021.
On 6 September 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published its 2021 frozen asset reporting notice. The notice is a reminder that all persons that hold or control funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held, or controlled by a designated person must provide a report to OFSI with the details of these assets by 15 October 2021. This is part of HM Treasury’s annual review of frozen assets to update its records and to capture any changes during the reporting period.
On October 8, the US Department of Labor published a notice requesting information and comments on the following three reports on child labor and forced labor practices in foreign countries that are published by the US Bureau of International Labor Affairs. The comments will be used in preparing the 2022 edition of the TDA Report and TVPRA List, as well as any updates to the E.O. List. The three reports are the US government’s key public statements on the issue of forced labor and child labor around the world.
On September 24, 2021 Turkish Ministry of Trade amended the Customs Regulation (“Regulation“). The amendments to the Regulation introduced a simplified procedure of “permitted consignor authorization” for transit regimes and clarified the scope of the crimes relevant persons must not have a final conviction of to open a temporary storage site or a bonded warehouse. The Ministry of Trade also regulated the transition process regarding permitted consignor authorization and site authorizations granted prior to the subject amendment within the scope of the Regulation on Facilitation of Customs Procedures.
The Trade Specialised Committee on Customs Cooperation and Rules of Origin (the “Committee“) is scheduled to meet for the first time on Thursday 7 October. The joint EU/UK Committee was established by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (“TCA“) with the role of monitoring and reviewing the consistency in implementation of the TCA Rules of Origin across the EU and the UK as well as related enforcement, and to provide a joint forum for discussing related technical issues.
On September 28, 2021, the US Department of Defense (“DoD”) published a notice of request for public comments. DOD’s request relates to Executive Order 14017, (“America’s Supply Chains” or “Supply Chain EO”). As part of requiring agency reviews of key industrial bases’ supply chains, the Supply Chain EO mandated that DoD conduct a one-year review of supply chains within the defense industrial base with the goal of identifying key supply chain vulnerabilities and opportunities to address these vulnerabilities.
On 15 September, during the 2021 State of the Union Address, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Commission’s intention to introduce a ban on the import of products made with forced labour into the EU market. In her Address, the Commission President noted that there are “25 million people…who are threatened or coerced into forced labour” and that “doing business around the world…can never be done at the expense of people’s dignity and freedom”.
On 9 September the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA“) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (“PRA“) published a letter to bank CEOs with the purpose of reiterating expectations of firms when undertaking trade finance activities. The Dear CEO letter addressed both conduct and prudential issues where the regulators consider that improvements are required in firms’ controls. The regulators stressed that “firms need to demonstrate that they have taken a risk sensitive approach to their control environment that ensures the relevant risks are effectively mitigated”, noting that the last 18 months have seen several “high-profile failures of commodity and trade finance firms with significant financial loss”.
On September 24, 2021, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued two General Licenses—(i) General License 14, “Authorizing Humanitarian Activities in Afghanistan” (“GL 14”), and (ii) General License 15, “Transactions Related to the Exportation or Reexportation of Agricultural Commodities, Medicine, Medical Devices, Replacement Parts and Components, or Software Updates in Afghanistan” (“GL 15”)—to “support the continued flow of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan and other activities that support basic human needs in Afghanistan.”