On June 2, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that his office is beginning investigations into digital services taxes that have been adopted or are being considered by a number of our trading partners. The investigations will be conducted under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. This provision gives the USTR broad authority to investigate and respond to a foreign country’s action which may be unfair or discriminatory and negatively affect US Commerce. …
On June 2, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that his office is beginning investigations [Docket No. USTR-2020-0022] into digital services taxes that have been adopted or are being considered by a number of the US’ trading partners. The investigations will be conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. This provision gives the USTR broad authority to investigate and respond to a foreign countryâs action which may be unfair or…
CommuniquĂ© No. 2020/8 Amending the CommuniquĂ© No. 96/31 on Goods Prohibited from Export or That Require Pre-Approval and CommuniquĂ© No. 2020/9 on Amending CommuniquĂ© No. 2006/7 on Goods Subject to Registration for Export (âCommuniquĂ©sâ) were published in the Official Gazette â 31115 dated May 2, 2020. The CommuniquĂ©s remove various export control measures imposed as part of COVID-19 pre-cautions on export transactions. Developments The government introduced a number of measures to combat COVID-19 in the…
On November 16, 2019, the Ministry of Trade (âMinistryâ) announced the launch of the Customs Guidelines (âGuidelinesâ). The Guidelines aim to provide guidance and inform individuals and companies of customs procedures. Whatâs New? The Guidelines are for individuals to carry out customs procedures. âIndividual transactionsâ and âcommercial transactionsâ. The âindividual transactionsâ section provides basic information on customs procedures and customs exemptions for goods such as vehicles imported without returns; temporarily imported vehicles; goods delivered through mail or fast cargo; special vehicles…
On November 15, 2019, in Transpacific Steel LLC v. United States (Slip Op. 19-142), a three judge panel of the US Court of International Trade (CIT), based upon the facts alleged, found that Transpacific Steel LLCâs (âPlaintiffâ) arguments that the President failed to follow the procedure set forth in the statute and, further, that singling out importers from Turkey violated the equal protection guarantees under the US Constitution, support its claim for a refund and…
On November 13, 2019, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published in the Federal Register a final rule [Docket No. 191105-0076] that amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding twenty-two entities, under a total of thirty-two entries, to the Entity List. These twenty-two entities have been determined by the US Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. These entities will be listed on…
On October 23, 2019, the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had deleted two Turkish ministries and three Turkish individuals from the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (âSDN Listâ). These five parties had been designated to the SDN List on October 14, 2019 pursuant to Executive Order 13894 (EO 13894) for contributing to Turkeyâs military offensive in northern Syria. Please see our blog post regarding EO 13894 here. OFACâs…
On October 14, 2019, President Trump released a statement that said that he would be “issuing an Executive Order authorizing the imposition of sanctions against current and former officials of the Government of Turkey and any persons contributing to Turkeyâs destabilizing actions in northeast Syria.” He also said the steel tariffs will be increased back up to 50 percent, the level prior to reduction to 25% in May. The United States will also immediately stop…
On 14 October 2019, the Dutch government announced that on 11 October 2019, the government decided, in response to the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, to tighten Dutch arms export policy with regard to Turkey. Until further notice, all new license applications for the export of military goods to Turkey will be held and no new licenses will be issued. Other EU partners, such as France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Belgium, have also tightened their national…
On October 2, 2019, the Department of State published in the Federal Register a notice [Public Notice: 10907] that the Government of the Republic of Turkey has made a request to the Government of the United States under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. State received this request on September 6, 2019. Turkeyâs request seeks US…