U.S.-based MVM Logistics said major shipping line MSC violated the Shipping Act by failing to provide MVM with “adequate” time to return containers and charging per diem fees for delays MSC had caused. In a complaint this week to the Federal Maritime Commission, MVM said MSC charged it about $800,000 stemming from unfair fees and failed to "establish, observe, and enforce just and reasonable regulations and practices relating to or connected with receiving, handling, storing, or delivering property."
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently sent a proposed charging letter to Seagate Technology alleging that it violated U.S. export controls by providing controlled items to a company on the Entity List. Seagate said the Aug. 29 letter accused it of violating the Export Administration Regulations by providing hard disk drives to the blacklisted company and its affiliates between August 2020 and September 2021.
A Chinese freight forwarder illegally tried to change the terms of its signed service contract with a U.S. distributor and purposefully delayed 20 container shipments so it could submit higher detention and demurrage invoices, the American company said in a complaint this month to the Federal Maritime Commission. Indiana distributor Way Interglobal also said China-based Shenzhen Unifelix, a von-vessel operating common carrier, “improperly” disclosed Way’s financial information to Shenzhen’s vendors to try to force Way into agreeing to a new contract.
Although the new U.S. export controls against China are likely to have minimal impacts on the U.S. semiconductor industry, a broader implementation of the controls could quickly raise costs on U.S. and allied suppliers and hurt the domestic chip industry, the Rhodium Group said in a report this month. The research firm said damages to semiconductor companies “could balloon quickly under a tightening of controls,” which it believes is “highly plausible.”
The EU is hoping for concrete input from the U.S. by year-end on changes to the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system (see 2210180006), an EU official said, adding member states are growing increasingly impatient about the U.S.’s lack of action. Sabine Weyand, the European Commission’s director-general, also said the discussions within the EU on extending WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS waiver) have become more difficult.
The U.S. this week charged several Chinese nationals, including Chinese government intelligence officers, for their efforts to obstruct a federal prosecution of Huawei and illegally acquire U.S. technology. In one indictment, DOJ charged two Chinese intelligence officers with trying to steal federal prosecution documents relating to the Huawei case. A second indictment charges four Chinese nationals, including three Ministry of State Security (MSS) intelligence officers, for their involvement in a “long-running intelligence campaign” to acquire sensitive U.S. technology, information and assistance.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed by one month a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced Oct. 21. The ports had planned to begin imposing the fee in November 2021 but postponed it each week until July 29, when the ports announced their first one-month postponement (see 2207290053). The latest one-month extension delays the effective date until Nov. 18.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is hoping the recent changes to its administrative enforcement policies help clear a “backlog” of minor cases that had been taking up too much of the agency’s time and resources, said Matthew Axelrod, BIS’s top enforcement official. Axelrod, speaking during an event last week hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center, also said the agency is making progress on establishing a multilateral export enforcement mechanism and urged exporters to make sure they are continuously screening suppliers and customers.
The Treasury Department this week released its first ever enforcement and penalty guidelines for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., detailing how it decides on violations, where the committee gets its information and other steps it takes during the penalty process. The committee -- which has been criticized for lacking transparency by lawyers and companies looking to comply with its requirements (see 2208050028 and 2008240031) -- also outlined various aggravating and mitigating factors it considers when calculating a penalty amount.
Artificial intelligence export controls should only be imposed multilaterally and should contain no ambiguity in order to minimize harm on U.S. competitiveness, trade groups told the Commerce Department this week. They said the controls also should clearly distinguish between “general purpose” and “application specific” AI software so the restrictions only cover items that pose genuine national security concerns.