In today’s globalized world, understanding international markets is crucial for businesses aiming to expand their footprint and capitalize on emerging opportunities. As part of Foley & Lardner’s ongoing series of General...more
We have received several requests for a list of the compliance policies that make sense for every multinational company. So, as a follow-up to our earlier two posts providing “twelve steps to international compliance” (see...more
1/4/2024
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Books & Records ,
Code of Conduct ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Copyright ,
Customs ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Document Retention Policies ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Ethics ,
Export Controls ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Forced Labor ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Human Trafficking ,
Imports ,
Insider Trading ,
Internal Controls ,
Litigation Hold ,
Multinationals ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Social Media ,
Supply Chain ,
Trademarks ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) prioritizes enforcing rules against the use of forced labor and human trafficking. The CBP’s ramped-up enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) is...more
11/28/2023
/ China ,
Code of Conduct ,
Compliance ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Entity List ,
Forced Labor ,
Importers ,
International Labor Organization (ILO) ,
Investigations ,
NGOs ,
Supply Chain ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco recently announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is adopting a new safe harbor policy to incentivize corporations to voluntarily self-disclose criminal misconduct discovered...more
10/13/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Disgorgement ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Investigations ,
Mergers ,
Safe Harbors ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements
Both enforcement agencies and consumers increasingly are focused on manufacturers’ supply chains. Human rights enforcement frameworks increasingly have real teeth. Both the United States and the European Union either have, or...more
6/8/2023
/ Compliance ,
Consumers ,
Country of Origin ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
EU ,
Human Rights ,
Manufacturers ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Management ,
Slavery ,
Supply Chain ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
The international trade and regulatory environment never has been more difficult for multinational corporations to navigate. For companies that operate, source from, or sell goods, software, or services across borders, legal...more
5/25/2023
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Trade ,
Multinationals ,
Penalties ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State-Owned Enterprises
Companies in the manufacturing industry must continue to keep a close eye on the “S” in ESG. One key aspect of the “social” component of ESG involves respecting human rights in supply chains. Indeed, manufacturers are facing...more
3/31/2023
/ Child Labor ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Manufacturers ,
Reputational Injury ,
Supply Chain ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
On March 3, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced noteworthy updates to its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP) guidance. In remarks at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White...more
Many have viewed corporate commitments to ESG as largely performative measures amidst toothless compliance frameworks. But this has been changing and we expect that change to continue. One example arises out of the “S” in...more
12/20/2022
/ Child Labor ,
Compliance ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Forced Labor ,
Imports ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
The Final Rule issued under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is, as forecast, a sweeping and significant update to the U.S. anti-money laundering laws, estimated to affect over 32 million entities by requiring new reports...more
10/12/2022
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Register ,
Final Rules ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Penalties ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Small Business
Geopolitics have always impacted supply chain logistics, but over the last two years they have played an outsized role that will likely continue for the foreseeable future. While the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the risks...more
7/19/2022
/ Belarus ,
China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
Geopolitical Risks ,
Grain & Feed Commoditites ,
Human Rights ,
National Security ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
Supply Chain ,
Supply Shortages ,
SWIFT ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Ukraine ,
US State Departments ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) ,
WTO
As the global economy faces the third year of the pandemic, manufacturers are no longer focused on figuring out when things will return to “normal.” Instead, they are applying lessons learned from the past few years to become...more
7/7/2022
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Audits ,
BPA ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ,
Copyright ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Ethics ,
False Advertising ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Greenwashing ,
Human Rights ,
ICFR ,
Internet of Things ,
Investment ,
Liability ,
Machine Learning ,
Manufacturers ,
Mexico ,
Model Contract Clauses ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Patents ,
PFAS ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
Remote Working ,
Risk Management ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supply Chain ,
Supply Shortages ,
Sustainability ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unions ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
On May 3, 2022, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance through the release of a sample comment letter of public reporting companies’ potential disclosure obligations related to “the direct or indirect...more
5/9/2022
/ Belarus ,
China ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Economic Sanctions ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Russia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supply Chain ,
Ukraine
On April 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division released updated guidance on its Leniency Program, which protects companies and employees who cooperate with the government from prosecution for their...more
President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) into law on December 23, 2021. (Click here and here for previous articles on this topic.) On January 24, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)...more
On December 7, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to establish regulations that will implement the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). This rulemaking is...more
As we predicted, President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law on December 23, 2021. The law bans the import of goods produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and it goes into effect...more
On December 8, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act nearly unanimously. The House bill would create a “rebuttable presumption” that all goods from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous...more
12/10/2021
/ China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supply Chain ,
Supply Contracts ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
On Tuesday, July 13, the Biden administration issued a supply chain advisory on the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The advisory renews and refreshes warnings first issued in July 2020 that U.S. companies conducting...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) issued a Withhold Release Order (“WRO”) against Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd. , a company located in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“XUAR”). The WRO...more
6/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Exports ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
Solar Energy ,
Supply Chain ,
US State Departments ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
Last week, Bloomberg News reported that the Group of Seven nations (G7) intends to launch an alternative to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” when they meet later this week in Cornwall, England. The strategy is expected to...more
Earlier this week, the United States, the European Union, Britain, and Canada imposed sanctions on several Chinese officials for human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region...more
3/25/2021
/ Canada ,
China ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK
On February 24, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory alerting financial institutions to the potential for fraud and other financial crimes related to Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) and a...more
On January 1, 2021, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which includes the Corporate Transparency Act (the CTA).1 The CTA requires all U.S. businesses to file “beneficial ownership”...more
1/12/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Data Protection ,
Data Storage ,
FDIC ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Patriot Act ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shell Corporations ,
Tax Returns
The unprecedented challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting government lockdowns could strain even the most robust compliance programs. Companies have been appropriately focused on business preservation during...more