U.S. Customs halts the import of silica-based products from made by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. because the products are suspected of being produced using forced labor. For future imports of solar energy equipment sourced from Xinjiang, China, the United States may use Withhold Release Orders (WROs) to block entry into the United States if there is reasonable suspicion of forced labor in the supply chain. The renewables industry is working together and with regulators to…

New law could penalize companies for complying with U.S. sanctions. Penalties include designation to China’s new “Unreliable Entity” list. Statements against the new laws could also be penalized, restricting the capacity of counsel to advise freely on compliance with U.S. sanctions and Chinese countermeasures. On June 10, 2021, China enacted the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law (“AFSL”), aimed at punishing countries that impose anti-China sanctions and the companies that comply with those sanctions. The law is effective…

Key Takeaways: U.S. prohibits investments in 59 Chinese Military Industrial Companies (NS-CMIC) The prohibition forms part of a larger U.S.-China confrontation that has implications across finance, industry, and even academia. Companies need to understand the geopolitical forces behind trade relations in order to act ahead of regulations rather than being caught in a reactive position. The question for every company, whether an investment fund holding securities in Chinese companies, a startup looking for finance from…

Last week, on June 3, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order (“E.O.”) prohibiting U.S. investments in designated Chinese companies deemed to undermine “the security or democratic values of the United States and [its] allies” (see here). The E.O. is the most recent in a long list of foreign policy actions seeking to put pressure on China using economic tools to curtail China’s surveillance and intelligence activities against the United States. The E.O. amends…

In May 2018 the United States announced the reinstitution of sanctions against Iran that had previously been lifted pursuant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan Action (“JCPOA”).[1]…

A new framework for foreign direct investments in the United Kingdom Takeaways The United Kingdom Government has adopted a CFIUS-style National Security and Investment Act (“the Act”). The new law takes effect in later in 2021, but UK Government may look back at deals from November 2020 onward. The Act is considered one of the most far-reaching systems in the world, carrying civil and criminal penalties for a failure to notify. A notifiable acquisition completed…