Click here to read Steptoe & Johnson’s 2019 FCPA/Anti-Corruption Year in Review. US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement authorities announced a steady stream of individual and corporate enforcement matters throughout 2019, some with eye-popping fines. Overall, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported 50 FCPA-related actions (including 31 by the DOJ and 19 by the SEC) over the course of the year. Total fines, penalties, and disgorgement imposed in…

Click here to read the full Client Advisory by Steptoe & Johnson LLP. On December 28, 2019, China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (“NPC”) published a new draft Export Control Law (“the draft law”) for public comment. As China’s first export control statute, this law is intended to unify and significantly enhance China’s existing export control framework, with reference to prevalent global practices. The 2019 draft consists of 6 six chapters and 48…

On January 15, 2020, the United States and China signed the “Economic and Trade Agreement,” commonly referred to by the parties as the Phase One agreement. US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the text in Washington, and the Vice Premier read aloud a congratulatory letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping. President Trump said at the signing ceremony that the United States and China would commence talks on a Phase Two…

Click here to read the full Client Advisory by Steptoe & Johnson LLP. In December 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a revised policy regarding voluntary disclosure of export control and sanctions violations by business organizations (“VSD Policy”).  The VSD Policy encourages business organizations – which now include financial institutions – to self-disclose “all potentially willful violations of the statutes implementing the U.S. government’s primary export control and sanctions regime.” For…

Click here for the Chinese translation of this post. On January 13, 2020, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) published final rules implementing changes to the committee’s jurisdiction and review process as required under the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA). The regulations become effective on February 13, 2020. Under the new rules, CFIUS, which is the inter-agency body charged with reviewing certain inbound foreign investment in the…