Our colleagues in our Beijing and Shanghai offices, Daniel F. Roules, Sungbo Shim, Laura Wang, Ju (Lindsay) Zhu, Hua Li and Changshun (Ryan) Chen, have prepared an in-depth and well-developed client advisory on the impacts of the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) on companies operating in China. The document provides detailed guidance on several topics, including employment matters, … Continue Reading
There have been longstanding tensions in the Xinjiang province of China between the Chinese government and the Uyghurs, a predominately Muslim ethnic group. The UN estimates that there are more than 1 million Uyghurs in detention camps, and there are reports of pervasive surveillance, wide-spread forced-labor, and “re-education” programs. These human rights abuses present significant … Continue Reading
The UK is seeing a significant push on the imposition of Clean Air Zones in its major cities in an effort to tackle emissions levels, NO2 in particular. Such schemes are designed to incentivize changes in vehicle usage and ownership through the application of daily charges for polluting and ‘non-compliant’ vehicles entering the zone. Many … Continue Reading
As shown in the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) Bureau of International Labor Affairs’ International Child Labor & Forced Labor Reports, the use of child labor, forced labor, and child forced labor remains a tragically persistent concern worldwide. To help companies understand these risks and work to eliminate child labor and forced labor, the DOL … Continue Reading
The UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced on June 25, 2019 that food labeling laws will be changed to introduce full ingredient labelling (including allergens) for foods which are packed for direct sale. The new requirements will come fully into force in 2021. Our colleague Nicola Smith prepared an article last August which details the options the UK government was … Continue Reading
Developments in product liability regimes around the world should be of interest to any company with a global supply chain. In particular, as companies continue to source ever more materials from Asia, it is important to be aware of the product liability legal landscape in those countries. Our colleagues, David Goh and Bindu Janardhanan, have … Continue Reading
Since taking office in January 2017, President Trump has made use of several provisions of US law – including Section 301, targeting unfair trade practices, and Section 232, targeting threats to national security – to bring trading partners to the negotiating table. Major developments over the last two weeks could impact global supply chains across a wide range … Continue Reading
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
There’s been buzz about Keer Group lately, the Chinese textile company that opened a cotton mill this year in South Carolina. China has long been seen as the global capital of textile manufacturing, due in part to their low production costs and seemingly endless supply of cheap labor. But Keer Group found the rising costs in … Continue Reading
Much has been written in recent times about reshoring: the practice of bringing manufacturing and services back to the US, the UK and other originating countries for a variety of reasons after “off-shoring” and extending supply chains for decades, but primarily for the cost play, and often leading to the “hollowing out” of the local … Continue Reading
