On May 2, 2019, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released guidance on effective sanctions compliance programs. This guidance is useful for any company with an international supply chain, as both U.S. and foreign companies may be subject to, and at risk for violating, U.S. sanctions law. As a recent example, e.l.f. Cosmetics … Continue Reading
As a tactic in the ongoing civilian aircraft subsidies dispute between the US and the EU at the World Trade Organization, the US government has proposed a preliminary list to tax about US$11 billion worth of products exported to the US from the EU. The product list includes two sections, one focusing specifically on products … Continue Reading
Our colleagues Matthew Lewis, Matthew Kirk, and Robert MacLean have prepared another in-depth analysis of the current status of Brexit. You can read and download the full update here. The range of options, and timescales, days after the UK should have left the EU, remains as wide as ever. We are still some way from knowing what future trading relationships will look like. … Continue Reading
According to recent WSJ reporting , immigration issues at the Mexico-US border are disrupting commercial trade, as US Customs and Border Patrol agents who typically handle trade traffic have been redirected to migrant issues. This redistribution of resources has reportedly caused a pile up of truck traffic and delay of inspections for agricultural and automotive components. … Continue Reading
US beef companies shipping to Japan likely will have to pay higher tariffs beginning in May due to the United States’ rejection of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). To protect its own beef industry, Japan increases tariffs on frozen beef imports if import volumes pass a certain threshold, which Japan is … Continue Reading
The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but so far the UK has failed to ratify a Withdrawal Agreement. Whether the UK will leave with or without a deal remains unclear, and the analysis changes on a near-daily basis. Regardless of outcome, however, the nature of the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU will need to be … Continue Reading
The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. At this time, however, the UK has failed to ratify a Withdrawal Agreement, risking a “no-deal” exit. Whether the UK will leave with or without a deal remains unclear, and the analysis changes on a near-daily basis. Regardless of outcome, however, the nature of the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU … Continue Reading
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement, went into effect on December 30, 2018 for six countries: Australia; Canada; Japan; Mexico; New Zealand; and Singapore. The CPTPP became effective for Vietnam on January 14, 2019, and four additional countries (Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru) plan to ratify and enact the Agreement. Combined, … Continue Reading
Under Brexit, the UK is likely to leave the EU at the end of March 2019 – a development that will impact many global supply chains. Whether the UK will leave pursuant to an orderly arrangement, or whether it will leave without a deal is still unclear, and will likely remain unclear for the next … Continue Reading
In Ratha v. Phatthana Seafood Co. Ltd., Cambodian plaintiffs sued various companies under the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), alleging that the companies benefitted from human trafficking in the shrimp and seafood industries in Thailand. A California district court found that the claims against certain defendants failed because those companies did not knowingly participate in or benefit from human trafficking; that decision is now on … Continue Reading
In the most recent edition of the Tax Strategy & Benefits Newsletter, our colleagues address international efforts to find a consensus on the tax challenges arising from digitalization of the global economy. The G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project has so far failed to find an international consensus. That delay and lack of progress has … Continue Reading
In the past few months, the United States has rolled out three lists of Section 301 tariffs that it has imposed, or will soon impose, on products being imported from China. For each list there has been, or will soon be, both a public comment period – during which companies could ask for specific tariff … Continue Reading
Our colleague, Nicola Smith, recently published an article covering “Food Labeling Issues and Trends in Europe: Lessons for US and European Practitioners from Recent Allergen Recalls”, which is now available for download here. Click below to read more about further examples of recalls due to safety or allergen information. The continuing trend of recalls for allergens and … Continue Reading
Squire Patton Boggs attorney Anita Lloyd provided details to The UK in a Changing Europe about the potential effects of Brexit on chemical regulation. Due to the way that REACH works on a whole supply-chain basis, when the UK leaves the EU, there could be significant disruption to cross-border supply chains and the many billions of pounds’ … Continue Reading
It has been a tumultuous year for trade. Nearly all steel and aluminum imported into the US now face additional 25% and 10% tariffs, respectively, after the Trump Administration determined such imports threatened US national security. An additional 25% tariff will be added to a growing list of products from China, following a US investigation … Continue Reading
The following is a guest post from Oliver H. Geiss, a partner in our Brussels and Frankfurt offices, and Tatiana Siakka, an associate in our London and Brussels offices. Oliver focuses his practice on competition law in the European Union and Germany, and Tatiana is a competition law specialist with wide-ranging experience in both contentious and non-contentious matters. … Continue Reading
A Value Added Tax (VAT) was introduced in the UAE on January 1, 2018. Although there do not appear to have been significant impacts on regional supply chains thus far, our colleague explains why there may be complications coming later this year from the introduction of VAT in the UAE. The article can by accessed here.… Continue Reading
We are holding a webinar with our sector experts from the US, Germany and the UK to address some of the key concerns and issues facing manufacturers across the globe, including trade barriers, GDPR, immigration, intellectual property enforcement, pensions, and environmental matters.… Continue Reading
On May 8, President Trump announced that the US is withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) entered among the P5+1 countries (the US, China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK), the European Union and Iran in July 2015. In our publication, we provide an overview of upcoming changes to US sanctions policy … Continue Reading
The Trump administration has formally opposed China’s bid to be recognized as a “market economy.” Aligning itself with the European Union and other countries including Japan, the U.S. submitted a statement to the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) in mid-November and made its decision to oppose public on November 30, 2017. Under a market economy status, … Continue Reading
Our own Ketan Ganase recently wrote about Predictability Through Incoterms. One important precondition to achieving that predictability is making sure that you are using terms correctly. This is especially true for “FOB,” a term that can mean different things in different contexts.… Continue Reading
The North American Free Trade Agreement has brought massive changes to supply chains throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada over the past 23 years. Now, for the first time, the United States has an anti-NAFTA administration, which is moving forward on its campaign promise to re-negotiate the agreement. The details are far from final, but some of the … Continue Reading
The Trump administration has indicated its intention to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”). Currently, a draft letter is being circulated by the U.S. Trade Representative to members of Congress for their review. Stephen Vaughn, acting U.S. Trade Representative, wrote in the draft notification letter that “[t]he persistent U.S. deficit in goods trade … Continue Reading
In January 2016, we wrote about a report issued by NGOs Amnesty International and African Resources Watch, revealing that most of the world’s cobalt supply – an integral ingredient for lithium batteries – comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is mined using child labor. At that time, the major retailers of products … Continue Reading
