China’s amended Law on Guarding State Secrets (“SSL”) took effect on May 1, 2024. This amendment is part of a broader legislative push to enhance national security and data protection, aligning with other recent laws such as...more
On January 30, 2024, Transparency International (TI) published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2023. The 2023 CPI suggests there has been limited progress in the global fight against corruption, with TI...more
2/8/2024
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
China ,
Corruption ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Indonesia ,
Malaysia ,
Money Laundering ,
Supply Chain ,
Transparency International ,
White Collar Crimes
On January 31, 2023, Transparency International (TI) published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2022. As in recent years, the 2022 CPI demonstrates that more must be done to combat corruption globally – with...more
On January 25, 2022, Transparency International (TI) published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2021.[1] Similar to previous years’ indices, the CPI 2021 demonstrates that corruption levels, including in the...more
2021 was a year of transition in the United States and for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). OFAC’s year, while busy, was far different from 2020, as the Biden Administration’s...more
2/8/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Burma ,
China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Forced Labor ,
Hong Kong ,
Hong Kong Autonomy Act (HKAA) ,
Iran ,
NDAA ,
NGOs ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
U.S. Treasury
As we approach year’s end, and the pace of legislative activity ramps up, it remains critical to keep a close eye on the sanctions-related bills currently making their way, at varying speeds, through the U.S. legislative...more
11/9/2021
/ China ,
Corruption ,
Forced Labor ,
Foreign Policy ,
Iran ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List ,
U.S. Treasury
China’s new Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law (AFSL) (中华人民共和国反外国制裁法) achieves two goals. First, it creates a menu of countersanctions available to Chinese authorities—visa restrictions, asset and transaction blocks within...more
On June 3, 2021, President Biden issued a new executive order (E.O.), “Addressing the Threat from Securities Investments that Finance Certain Companies of the People’s Republic of China” (E.O. 14032). The E.O. prohibits U.S....more
In too many ways to count, 2020 was an extraordinary year. As we move into 2021 with optimism for an end to the pandemic and better days ahead, we understand that the activity last year of the U.S. Department of the...more
2/16/2021
/ China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Exports ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Maritime Transport ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Penalties ,
Pentagon ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration
Over the past year, we have seen waves of actions by the Trump Administration targeting parties in China and Hong Kong. These actions ranged from economic sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials and organizations,...more
Former US President Trump during his term of office only a week, before the release of its 13959 No. Executive Order ( "Executive Order") has been modified . The previous executive order prohibits Americans from investing in...more
China’s recently promulgated Measures to Block the Improper Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Laws and Measures (the “Measures”) has established a new framework for mitigating the impact of foreign legal measures,...more
China’s new Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures (《阻断外国法律与措施不当域外适用办法》) (the “Rules”) create a new framework to mitigate the impact of foreign legal...more
With just one week remaining in his term, President Trump amended Executive Order (“EO”) 13959, which prohibits U.S. persons from investing in the securities of Chinese Military Companies (“CMCs”), to continue his aggressive...more
One of the widest-ranging bills of the U.S. Congress’s legislative year, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), is nearing the finish line as both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the...more
12/15/2020
/ CAATSA ,
China ,
Export Controls ,
Hong Kong ,
NATO ,
NDAA ,
Pentagon ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Sanctions ,
Trump Administration ,
Turkey ,
US Department of State
On December 2, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, by unanimous vote, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (“HFCAA” or “Act”). Following enactment, foreign issuers, especially Chinese issuers, and their...more
Over the past summer, prompted by a bipartisan Congressional letter identifying a two‑decade‑old statute as an unused tool in confronting China’s strategy of “Military-Civilian Fusion,” the U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”)...more
On Wednesday, October 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of State (“State”) submitted a report to the U.S. Congress, as required under section 5(a) of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (“HKAA”), identifying foreign persons materially...more
10/19/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Hong Kong ,
Hong Kong Autonomy Act (HKAA) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury ,
US Department of State
China has recently introduced unreliable entity list ("Entity List") regulations to provide a framework for China's upcoming list of economic sanctions. As early as October 2018 and March 2020, China has implemented "blocking...more
10/12/2020
/ China ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Entity List ,
Foreign Entities ,
Huawei ,
MInistry of Commerce ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanctions ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
US Department of State
Newly issued Unreliable Entity List (“UEL”) regulations establish a framework for list-based economic sanctions to be administered by China. Viewed together with “blocking statutes” implemented in March 2020 and October 2018...more