On March 30, France released a draft bill (so-called “Sapin II” bill) aimed at strengthening its anti-corruption legislation. If adopted, this reform will have far-reaching consequences for French and foreign groups.

Under French law, corruption, including active and passive bribery (corruption) and influence peddling (trafic d’influence), is a criminal offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment and fines of up to €1,000,000 for individuals and €5,000,000 for legal entities as well as ancillary sanctions. However, under the current regime, companies are under no obligation to take affirmative steps to prevent corruption. Furthermore, French authorities have limited legal means to prosecute acts of corruption committed outside of France. As a result, the current framework has long been viewed as being deficient, ineffective and generally below international standards, particularly when compared to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and UK Bribery Act (2010) (“UKBA”). In 2014, both the European Commission and the OECD invited France to adopt and enforce effective anti-corruption laws.

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Recent developments in economic sanctions and export controls administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) provide for the incremental easing of sanctions in support of the President’s rapprochement with Cuba while responding to the growing threat from North Korea by imposing comprehensive sanctions. Section I of this memorandum addresses recent actions taken by BIS and OFAC to expand access to Cuba. Section II outlines the new restrictions on dealings with North Korea.

Continue Reading United States Ratchets Up North Korean Sanctions

I. Overview

On January 27, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) released revised Cuban Assets Control Regulations (“CACR”) to continue implementing policy changes announced by President Obama on December 17, 2014[1] and initiated on January 16, 2015. In a coordinated action, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a rule updating U.S. export controls to facilitate permitted activities.[2] These revisions follow prior amendments to the OFAC and BIS regulations regarding Cuba published on September 21, 2015. The revised regulations, effective January 27, 2016, continue to ease U.S. sanctions on Cuba. General travel and tourism in Cuba remain prohibited to persons acting within U.S. jurisdiction, as does most commercial and financial activity.

Continue Reading U.S. Continues Incremental Easing of Cuban Sanctions

On January 16, 2016, following a favorable report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the P5+1 powers (the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Russia, and Germany) and Iran declared that “Implementation Day” had occurred under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”), bringing into force agreed relief from sanctions against Iran.[1] The scope of relief was largely as expected, but the timing of the declaration was significantly earlier than unofficial estimates provided last year by U.S. officials.

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On February 10, 2016, the European Commission (“the Commission”) launched a public online consultation to gather input from stakeholders on possible changes to the methodology for assessing dumping duties on goods originating from China. [1] This consultation takes place in the context of the impending expiry on December 11, 2016, of certain provisions of China’s Accession Protocol to the WTO, which essentially allowed the EU and other WTO members to treat China as a non-market economy (“NME”) in anti-dumping investigations. The consultation follows a College orientation debate on the treatment of China in anti-dumping investigations, on January 13, 2016.[2]

Continue Reading European Commission Launches Public Online Consultation on Possible Methodology Changes in Trade Defense Investigations Regarding China