The Justice Department reports that John Webster Warwick, 64, a Virginia Beach, Va. resident, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., to 37 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to former Panamanian government officials to secure maritime contracts.The U.S. District Court Judge also sentenced Warwick to two years of supervised release following his prison term. In addition, Warwick forfeited $331,000 in proceeds of the crime.
The Justice Department has announced that Technip S.A., a global engineering, construction and services company based in Paris, has agreed to pay a $240 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts. The EPC contracts to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria, were valued at more than $6 billion.
The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on nanotechnology which concludes that nanomaterials are already widely used in commerce, but the Environmental Protection Agency faces challenges in regulating their risks.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has announced that Plane Cargo Inc. (PCI), a freight forwarder located in Houston, TX, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $ 5,200 to settle one allegation that it violated the antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations.
The Department of Energy has issued a supplemental notice containing additional language and definitions to its December 2008 proposed rule to amend test procedures for residential clothes dryers and room air conditioners to provide for measurement of standby mode and off mode power use. DOE will hold a public meeting on July 14, 2010, and comments are due by August 30.
International Trade Administration announces a meeting of the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee on July 13, 2010. The agenda for the meeting includes discussion of the current status of Civil Nuclear Trade Initiative; an update on civil nuclear trade policy with India, and the Commerce Department's small modular reactor report.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the names of the four individuals in Colombia whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to Executive Order 12978, "Blocking Assets and Prohibiting Transactions With Significant Narcotics Traffickers," effective June 22, 2010.
On June 12, 2010, the President issued Proclamation 8536 which amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to extend and establish certain sugar tariff rate quotas for Costa Rica under the DR-CAFTA1 and make technical corrections to certain other free trade agreement General Notes.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology posts drafts and changes to foreign technical regulations for manufactured products which may be considered technical barriers to trade and are therefore required to be reported to the World Trade Organization, which distributes the information to WTO Member countries.