Insights

On October 29, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement Executive Order 14117 “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern” (the E.O.).  The E.O. addresses the national security threat posed by the continued effort of certain countries of concern to access and exploit certain kinds of Americans’ sensitive personal data, which includes health data and genetic data. This builds on DOJ’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) published on March 5.  Comments are due on November 29, 2024.

Regardless of what happens in the U.S. elections on November 5, one theme is clear – protectionist policies in international trade are here to stay. To some extent, the key difference between the trade policies of a Harris administration and a second Trump Administration may be one of degree. Vice President Harris is expected to continue the more cautious, incremental approach to trade policy favored by the Biden Administration. A second Trump administration, on the other hand, is expected to pick up where it left off and aggressively use the trade tools at its disposal to try to reset and renegotiate trade relationships with many of the U.S.’s trading partners—particularly those countries with whom the U.S. has a trade deficit.

Momentum is building for the US BIOSECURE Act, and it is becoming more and more likely that it will soon become law. It may significantly impact pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and supply chains, particularly if they or their customers do business with the U.S. Federal Government. It is therefore important to prepare now to avoid potentially serious adverse effects.

On September 28, 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) published the draft Provisions on Regulating and Promoting Cross-Border Data Flows (“Draft Provisions”) for public consultation.

The summer has been anything but slow in the People’s Republic of China. China is leaning into its regulation of emerging technologies, while attempting to strike a balance with its domestic economic priorities. In just the past few weeks, state authorities have issued a slew of draft measures and announced new initiatives – all with significant ramifications for businesses processing data within the PRC. From personal information processing to facial recognition to cross-border data transfers, what follows is a highlight reel of what you may have missed while you were away on vacation, with the comment period for many of these developments closing within the next few weeks.

The Outbound Investment Program will be implemented through regulations issued by Treasury that will require notification for, or will otherwise prohibit U.S. persons from undertaking, certain transactions involving “covered national security products or technologies” and entities connected to a “country of concern.” Accordingly – concurrent with the Executive Order – Treasury released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that provides some potential definitions of these terms, but the exact definitions and the details of the regulations will be developed through public notice and comment that concludes on September 28, 2023. Treasury also published a Fact Sheet that provides additional information on the proposed details and scope of the outbound investment prohibitions and notification requirements, which will likely not be finalized until 2024 sometime after Treasury has published draft regulations and gathered another round of public comments.

On July 25, 2023, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure to add mandatory notifications of certain investments in China to the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”).  The Outbound Investment Transparency Act, authored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bob Casey (D-PA), would require U.S. companies to notify the government of investments in certain Chinese sectors, but does not allow for blanket investment bans.  Last year, a more expansive version of the bill[i] that would have established an interagency process for reviewing investments in China involving critical supply chains and specific critical and emerging technologies sectors was ultimately dropped from the CHIPS and Science Act[ii].

While the Biden’s administration’s recent corporate enforcement actions and initiatives have garnered significant press attention, China has engaged in recent months in a series of less-publicized corporate enforcement actions and initiatives against non-Chinese companies (mostly, but not exclusively, U.S.-based) operating in the country, including through new investigations, raids of China-based offices, and even detention of employees. China has taken many of these actions based on alleged violations of laws established or updated in the last five years, some of which were issued in response to actions taken by the United States in the ongoing U.S.-China Strategic Competition.

On December 24, 2021, China’s National People’s Congress issued a draft revision (“Draft Revision”) to the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC Company Law”) and made it available for public comment. The Draft Revision adds and amends about 70 articles to the PRC Company Law on the basis of the 13 chapters and 218 articles of the existing PRC Company Law (the “Existing Company Law”). This alert highlights some key revisions that could impact investors in companies located in China[1].

After a predictable lull in corporate enforcement actions during the recent transition between administrations, and following a near quarter-century low in such actions under the previous administration, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced this week that a “surge” of corporate enforcement is coming. Recent comments from DOJ officials indicate that, in addition to a significant increase in enforcement actions, updated policies and enhanced resources tailored to advance the administration’s priorities are near at hand.

On September 24, 2021, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs ("MFA") released the Fact Sheet: U.S. Interference in Hong Kong Affairs and Support for Anti-China, Destabilizing Forces ("Fact Sheet") which sets out a comprehensive chronological list of events detailing the United States' interference in Hong Kong. Click here to read the official translation of the full Fact Sheet. 

On April 28, 2021, the Ministry of Commerce of China (“MOFCOM”) released an updated version of Guiding Opinion of the Ministry of Commerce on the Establishment of Internal Compliance Mechanism for Export Controls on Exporters of Dual-Use Items (“Order No. 10”) which was first published in August 2007 (“Order No. 69”). As an implementing rule of the Export Control Law (“ECL”), Order No. 10 aims to provide companies with “guidance and reference” in their establishment or enhancement of internal export compliance programs (“ECP”) to promote compliance under China’s new export control regime.

On January 5, 2021, President Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting transactions “with persons that develop or control” eight “Chinese connected software applications”, including Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay, and WPS Office (the “order” or the “EO”). The prohibitions, which also apply to subsidiaries of the software developers, would go into effect 45 days from the date of the order, February 19, at the earliest. The order directs the Secretary of Commerce to identify the transactions and targets of the prohibitions not earlier than 45 days after the date of the order. Notably, these dates will fall in the Biden Administration, and it’s unclear whether the new Administration will elect to implement the order, extend the date of implementation, or revoke the order entirely. There are no current restrictions on dealing with the listed applications or their developers or owners.

On December 19, 2020, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) released anticipated “Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investments” (the “Measures”). These Measures, which implement China’s Foreign Investment Law that went into effect on January 1, 2020, and established the country’s new foreign investment regulatory framework, are effective on January 18, 2021.

On November 12, 2020, the President signed an executive order (the EO) that prohibits any “transaction in publicly traded securities or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities” with companies designated as Communist Chinese military companies. The prohibitions, which go into effect on January 11, 2021, apply to U.S. persons, including foreign branches of U.S. companies. 

Chinese companies, including Chinese subsidiaries of multinational companies, are seeing returns of previously exported goods for many COVID-19 related reasons, including the suspension of contractual obligations under force majeure provisions. China is now helping affected companies with new tax and duty relief. China Customs announced on November 2, 2020, that the State Council has approved tax rebates for goods returned due to COVID-19. For goods that were exported from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, the exporters will not be required to pay import duties, import value-added tax (“Import VAT”), and consumption tax on goods that are returned to China within one year of export (“Qualified Returned Goods”). Export duties paid on the goods will also be refunded to affected exporters.

A proposed law issued by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 21, 2020, the draft Personal Information Protection Law, seeks to impose restrictions on entities and individuals, including those operating outside of China, that collect and process personal data and sensitive information on subjects in China. The proposed law also provides for penalties up to RMB 50,000,000 ($7.4 million) or up to 5 percent of the entity’s or individual’s preceding year’s revenue. The draft law marks China’s first comprehensive system for the protection of personal information and sets forth general rules for the processing and transferring of personal information across China’s borders.

For the first time in nearly two decades, China is revamping its export control regime and issuing its first unified Export Control Law, which combines concepts from more than a dozen existing Chinese laws and related regulations. This alert summarizes the most significant changes from current Chinese export control practice, highlights what may be included in the pending Export Control Law, and comments on anticipated impact on businesses operating in China. We also provide some recommended approaches for companies with China operations (or rely on third parties in China) to consider in advance of implementation of the Export Control Law.

On September 23, 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (MFA) announced its decision to allow foreign nationals holding certain valid Chinese residence permits to enter China with no need to apply for new visas starting midnight, September 28, 2020. This marks a loosening of MFA’s policy to temporarily bar foreign nationals holding valid visas or residence permits from re-entering the country announced on March 26, 2020 (“March 26 Announcement”).

Transfer pricing is a major enforcement priority of China Customs in 2020. In April 2020, China Customs launched a national enforcement action to investigate and audit import transactions between related companies. More than 1000 multinational companies have received notices from China Customs requesting information on their transfer pricing policies and activities.