Treasury Amends Burmese Sanctions Regulations, Identifies Blocked Companies Owned By Designated Persons, And Delists Several Burmese State-Owned Entities
U.S. Department of Treasury
WASHINGTON – Today (May 17, 2016), the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) amended the Burmese Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 537 (“the Regulations”), and updated the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. Specifically, OFAC issued regulatory amendments intended to support trade with Burma; facilitate the movement of goods within Burma; allow certain transactions related to U.S. individuals residing in Burma; and allow most transactions involving designated financial institutions. In addition, OFAC, in consultation with the Department of State, removed seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks from the SDN List. Taken in concert with the regulatory amendments to allow most transactions with designated financial institutions, this leaves few OFAC restrictions remaining related to banks in Burma. To incentivize further democratic reforms and maintain pressure on targeted individuals and entities and the military, certain sanctions remain in place. As such, OFAC identified as blocked and added to the SDN List six companies that are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law or Asia World Co. Ltd. (“Asia World”), persons who remain on the SDN List. More broadly, these actions demonstrate the Administration’s support for continued political reforms and broad-based economic growth in Burma, while also maintaining sanctions pressure where needed, and providing the private sector with further clarity to effectively engage in Burma.
“Burma reached a historic milestone over the last year by holding competitive elections and peacefully transitioning to a democratically-elected government. Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma to change their behavior,” said Adam J. Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “These steps will help to facilitate trade with non-sanctioned businesses and, in turn, help the people and Government of Burma achieve a more inclusive and prosperous future.”
Amendments to the Burmese Sanctions Regulations
Today, OFAC added a general license authorizing transactions related to U.S. individuals residing in Burma, extended and expanded an existing general license authorizing trade-related transactions, and updated an existing general license authorizing certain banking services. As background, an OFAC license is an authorization to engage in a transaction that otherwise would be prohibited. There are two types of licenses: general licenses and specific licenses. A general license broadly authorizes a particular type of transaction, subject to certain conditions, without the need to individually apply for a specific license.
General license authorizing personal transactions related to U.S. persons residing in Burma
OFAC added a general license that allows U.S. persons to conduct most transactions otherwise prohibited by the Regulations that are ordinarily incident to U.S. individuals residing in Burma. This includes paying rent and other living expenses and buying goods and services for personal use.
This complements the existing exemption in the Regulations for travel to or from Burma and will make it easier for U.S. persons to reside and work in Burma, which will increase opportunities for U.S. and Burmese persons to engage with each other.
General licenses authorizing trade-related transactions
OFAC made two regulatory amendments related to trade-related transactions. First, OFAC extended indefinitely General License 20. Initially issued for a six-month period in December 2015, this general license is now incorporated into the Regulations. It authorizes transactions that are ordinarily incident to exports to or from Burma that are otherwise prohibited involving an individual or company that is designated or otherwise blocked by OFAC’s sanctions. Second, to further support trade-related transactions, OFAC expanded this authorization by adding a general license permitting certain transactions incident to the movement of goods within Burma. This includes transactions such as transporting goods from a warehouse in Burma for further distribution to retail outlets in Burma.
Together, these amendments will facilitate commerce into and throughout Burma, in turn bolstering trade and commercial opportunities for U.S. and Burmese exporters.
Port Truck Gate Schedule for Memorial Day Weekend 2016
PierPass
Terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have announced their schedules for the Memorial Day weekend holiday period Saturday May 28 through Monday May 30. The schedule can be downloaded at http://www.pierpass.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/MemorialDay_2016.pdf.
Please continue to monitor the websites of individual terminals for updates.
USITC Releases Report Concerning the Likely Impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement
U.S. International Trade Commission
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today released its report assessing the likely impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement that the President has entered into with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The USITC's report, Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors, provides an assessment of the likely impact of the Agreement on the U.S. economy as a whole and on specific industry sectors and the interests of U.S. consumers, as requested by the U.S. Trade Representative and required by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015.
In making its assessment, the Commission investigated the impact the agreement will have on the U.S. gross domestic product; exports and imports; aggregate employment and employment opportunities; and the production, employment, and competitive position of industries likely to be significantly affected by the agreement. In preparing its assessment, the Commission also reviewed available economic assessments regarding the Agreement, including literature concerning any substantially equivalent proposed agreement. The Commission provides a description of the analytical methods used and conclusions drawn in such literature, and a discussion of areas of consensus and divergence between the Commission’s analyses and conclusions of other economic assessments reviewed.
Main Findings
- The Commission used a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to determine the impact of TPP relative to a baseline projection that does not include TPP. The model estimated that TPP would have positive effects, albeit small as a percentage of the overall size of the U.S. economy. By year 15 (2032), U.S. annual real income would be $57.3 billion (0.23 percent) higher than the baseline projections, real GDP would be $42.7 billion (0.15 percent) higher, and employment would be 0.07 percent higher (128,000 full-time equivalents). U.S. exports and U.S. imports would be $27.2 billion (1.0 percent) and $48.9 billion (1.1 percent) higher, respectively, relative to baseline projections. U.S. exports to new FTA partners would grow by $34.6 billion (18.7 percent); U.S. imports from those countries would grow by $23.4 billion (10.4 percent).
- Among broad sectors of the U.S. economy, agriculture and food would see the greatest percentage gain relative to the baseline projections; output would be $10.0 billion, or 0.5 percent, higher by year 15. The services sector would benefit, with a gain of $42.3 billion in output. Output in manufacturing, natural resources, and energy would be $10.8 billion (0.1 percent) lower with the TPP Agreement than it would be compared with baseline estimates without the agreement.
- Many stakeholders consider two new electronic commerce provisions that protect cross-border data flows and prohibit data localization requirements to be crucial to the development of cross-border trade in services, and vital to optimizing the global operations of large and small U.S. companies in all sectors.
- TPP would generally establish trade-related disciplines that strengthen and harmonize regulations, increase certainty, and decrease trade costs for firms that trade and invest in the TPP region. Interested parties particularly emphasized the importance of TPP chapters addressing intellectual property rights, customs and trade facilitation, investment, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, and state-owned enterprises.
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors (Investigation No. TPA-105-001, USITC Publication 4607, May 2016) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4607.pdf
International Trade Commission - Press Releases
ITC
05/18/2016 Final Determinations in the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Investigations of Imports of Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from China (AD/CVD) and Japan (AD)
Corning International Kabushiki Kaisha to Pay $66.5 Million for Fixing Prices of Automotive Parts
Departmnet of Justice
Corning International Kabushiki Kaisha (Corning International K.K.) has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $66.5 million criminal fine for conspiring to fix prices, rig bids and allocate the market for ceramic substrates sold in the United States and elsewhere, and used in catalytic converters supplied to automobile manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere, the Justice Department announced today.
According to the felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Corning International K.K., based in Tokyo, conspired to fix prices, rig bids and allocate the market for ceramic substrates, from at least as early as July 1999 until on or about July 2011. The products were installed in automotive emissions control systems and supplied to automobile manufacturers including Ford Motor Company, General Motors LLC, Honda Motor Company Ltd., and certain of their subsidiaries, affiliates, and suppliers in the United States and elsewhere. Corning International K.K. agreed to cooperate in the department’s ongoing investigation. The plea agreement will be subject to court approval.
“Corning International K.K. – and Nobuhiko Niwa, its former executive, who was indicted last week – spent more than a decade colluding on sales of an important component of emissions systems for use in cars made and sold in the United States and elsewhere,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “But they have now been held accountable for the competitive harm they caused.”
“Corning International K.K.'s conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices brought the company increased revenues at a cost to auto manufacturers, suppliers, and ultimately, consumers,” said Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios of the FBI’s Detroit Division. “Attempts to thwart the free market system are damaging to our economy, and thereby its consumers, and will be actively investigated and prosecuted.”
Including Corning International K.K., 40 companies have been charged in connection with this investigation and have agreed to pay more than $2.7 billion in criminal fines. In addition, 59 individuals have been charged, including a former executive of Corning International K.K. On May 11, 2016, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan returned an indictment against Nobuhiko Niwa, a Japanese national, for his role in the conspiracy. Niwa was charged with participating in the conspiracy from at least as early as July 1999 until on or about July 2011.
This charge results from an ongoing investigation conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section and the FBI’s Detroit Division with the assistance of the FBI Headquarters’ International Corruption Unit. Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct related to the automotive parts industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258, visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI’s Detroit Field Office at 313-965-2323
Yiwei Zheng Sentenced To Pay $500,000 Fine For Smuggling Elephant Ivory And Rhinoceros Horns
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Department of Justice
Defendant also sentenced to intermittent confinement and 150 hours community service
United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger and Ed Grace, Deputy Assistant Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), today announced the sentencing of YIWEI ZHENG, A/K/A “Steve Zheng,” 43, for smuggling elephant ivory and illegally exporting rhinoceros horns from the United States to China.
ZHENG was ordered to pay $500,000 into the Lacey Act Reward Fund, which is used by USFWS to reward those who provide information about wildlife crimes and to pay the costs incurred in caring for fish, wildlife or plants that are being held as evidence in ongoing investigations. The defendant was also sentenced to serve three years’ probation, a six-week period of intermittent confinement, and to perform 150 hours of community service.
Under the Lacey Act, it is unlawful to import, export, transport, sell or purchase wildlife, fish or plants that were taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of a state, federal or foreign law. When it was passed in 1900, the Lacey Act became the first federal law protecting wildlife.
“Those who engage in this illegal trade create demand, and a market for, the exploitation of endangered species such as black rhinoceros,” said Assistant United States Attorney Laura M. Provinzino. “This defendant helped to sustain this illegal market for years, engaging in more than 300 sales and earning more than $1 million. His profit was earned at the expense of these threatened and endangered species.”
“Stopping wildlife trafficking and trade in ivory and rhino continues to be a huge conservation priority for us,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Ed Grace. “It takes all of us to protect these endangered species, here and around the world.”
According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, on April 30, 2011, ZHENG smuggled elephant ivory out of the United States to a recipient in Shanghai, China. ZHENG also violated the Lacey Act by exporting two rhinoceros horns from the U.S. between July 25, 2010 and July 27, 2010, with knowledge that the two rhinoceros horns were transported and sold in violation of the laws and regulations of the United States, including the Endangered Species Act.
ZHENG operated an online business known as Crouching Dragon Antiques. As part of this business, ZHENG offered for sale and sold a variety of items, including items made of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn. On May 5, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers identified a package containing a number of elephant ivory carvings being shipped from the United States to an individual in Shanghai, China. The shipper was identified as YIWEI ZHENG. The ivory contained within the shipment had not been declared to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upon export nor had ZHENG obtained any Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) permits for the ivory being exported as required.
In total, ZHENG smuggled into and out of the United States and sold in China and elsewhere, elephant ivory, rhinoceros horn and other items worth more than $1,000,000.
ZHENG pleaded guilty on January 13, 2016, and was sentenced today by U.S. District Chief Judge John R. Tunheim in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.
This case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura M. Povinzino.
Defendant Information:
YIWEI ZHENG, A/K/A “Steve Zheng,” 43
St. Cloud, Minn.
Convicted:
- Smuggling goods from the United States, 1 count
- Violation of the Lacey Act, 1 count
Sentenced:
- $500,000 fine payable to the Lacey Act Reward Fund
- Three years’ probation
- Six weeks of intermittent confinement
- 150 hours community service
Xylitol and Your Dog: Danger, Paws Off
Food & Drug Administration
Your six-month-old puppy, Hoover, will eat anything that isn’t tied down. Like many dog owners, you know chocolate can be dangerous to your pooch. But you may not know that if Hoover sticks his nose in your handbag and eats a pack of sugarless chewing gum, the consequences could be deadly.
Sugarless gum may contain xylitol, a class of sweetener known as sugar alcohol. Xylitol is present in many products and foods for human use, but can have devastating effects on your pet.
Over the past several years, the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received several reports—many of which pertained to chewing gum—of dogs being poisoned by xylitol, according to Martine Hartogensis, a veterinarian at FDA.
And you may have seen recent news stories about dogs that have died or become very ill after eating products containing xylitol.
Other Foods Containing Xylitol
But gum isn’t the only product containing xylitol. Slightly lower in calories than sugar, this sugar substitute is also often used to sweeten sugar-free candy, such as mints and chocolate bars. Other products that may contain xylitol include:
- breath mints
- baked goods
- cough syrup
- children’s and adult chewable vitamins
- mouthwash
- toothpaste
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