Christopher Skinner, former partner at Williams Mullen, has joined ArentFox as a partner in its international trade and investment practice, the firm announced. Skinner's practice will cover export controls and sanctions compliance as well as customs and import regulations.
Australia on Oct. 30 issued an updated permit that authorizes Australian lawyers and law firms to provide certain legal services to, and collect fees from, parties designated under its Autonomous Sanctions Regulations. New permit SAN-2024-00138, which replaces now-revoked permit SAN-2022-00079, allows Australian people and organizations to give legal advice or legal representation to sanctioned parties in Australian courts and tribunals, including for the filing of court documents, the “engagement of expert witnesses,” and “administrative tasks necessary for legal proceedings” in Australian courts.
Dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko pleaded guilty Nov. 1 for his role in a scheme to illegally export controlled dual-use and military items to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme, DOJ said. Yermolenko pled guilty to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Yermolenko faces up to 30 years in prison.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The government's interpretation of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on drawn stainless steel sinks from China would lead to "absurd" results and would plainly expand the scope of the orders to out-of-scope items, importer R.H. Peterson told the Court of International Trade on Oct. 29 in a reply brief (R.H. Peterson v. United States, CIT # 20-00099).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected an argument from a Chinese engineering professor who said his illegal export shouldn't have been subject to national security controls, which made the export subject to a higher base offense (U.S. v. Yi-Chi Shih, 9th Cir. # 23-3718).
An updated general license issued by the U.K. this week increases the cap on fees that can be paid to British law firms by parties subject to Russia-related sanctions, clarifies how the license applies to in-house lawyers, and more.
The Commerce Department on Oct. 28 continued to reject separate rate status for exporters Mayrun Tyre (Hong Kong), Shandong Hengyu Science & Technology Co., Winrun Tyre Co., Shandong Wanda Boto Tyre Co. and Shandong Linglong Tyre Co. in the 2016-17 review of the antidumping duty order on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China (YC Rubber Co. (North America) v. U.S., CIT # 19-00069).
The Commerce Department unlawfully declined to assign exporter Yantai Zhongzhen Trading Co. a separate antidumping rate in the AD investigation on pea protein from China, the company argued in a complaint at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 25. Zhongzhen targeted Commerce's decision to root its finding in the fact that one if its corporate officials is a member of a local People's Congress and another is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of Zhaoyuan City (CPPCC) (Yantai Oriental Protein Tech Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00181).
In oral argument, a Chinese aluminum foil exporter and the government discussed Commerce’s procedure for selecting world benchmark prices for an input and for land purchases (Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00133).