Apple Inc.’s recent settlement with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has exposed a potentially costly wrinkle in complying with international trade regulations. While sanctions screening technologies may help a company catch and report errors, this software alone will not absolve faults and shortcomings in a company’s overall export compliance programs.
The
On November 5, 2019 the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued two General Licenses (GLs) authorizing specific transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and categories of persons blocked by Executive Order 13884 (E.O. 13884).
E.O. 13884 was signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year on August 5, 2019. E.O 13884 was intended to
On April 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of State published an update to its List of Restricted Entities and Subentities Associated with Cuba (Cuba Restricted List) adding five additional entities to the list. 
On June 16, 2017, the President signed the National Security Presidential Memorandum-5 on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba
In recent weeks, the United Stated Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) expanded the scope of sanctions against current and former Venezuelan government officials who have supported controversial President Nicholas Maduro and his regime of corruption and human rights abuses.
The first sanctions implemented against Venezuelan individuals and entities were authorized
The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA), signed into law in August, authorizes the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to conduct pilot programs to implement provisions of the legislation that did not become effective immediately upon enactment.
On October 10,, 2018, a FIRRMA pilot program was enacted
In a recent opinion, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) upheld its categorical ban of the importation of fish and fish products caught with gillnets in the habitat of the critically endangered vaquita, off the coast of Mexico.
In a July 26, 2018 Order, the CIT granted a preliminary injunction sought by
On June 27, 2018, a coalition of U.S. steel users, the American Institute for International Steel (“AIIS”), and two steel trading companies filed a complaint in the United States Court of International Trade (“CIT”) challenging the Trump Administration’s imposition of a 25% tariff increase for steel products. AIIS’ challenge, however, is not made to the
On Tuesday, May 29, 2018, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled that the anti-dumping and countervailing duties for steel nails from Vietnam do not apply to zinc wall anchors.
In August 2016, OMG Inc. asked the Department of Commerce to determine whether wall anchors were within the scope of the anti-dumping and countervailing
Some of the most important trade partners of the U.S. are raising concerns about the proposed U.S. plan to overhaul its tax code. The finance ministers of Europe’s five largest economies voiced concerns about the tax plan in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday, December 11, 2017.
The letter was signed
In consultation with the Department of State and pursuant to Executive Order 13662, the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has updated Directive 4, which will expand sanctions on the Russian energy industry.
The new rules issued by OFAC prohibit certain activities by a U.S. person or within the United States, except