The Commerce Department and DOJ this week launched a new task force to “target illicit actors” and protect critical technologies from being acquired by “nation-state adversaries.” The Disruptive Technology Strike Force -- which will be led by Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and DOJ’s National Security Division -- will focus on investigating and prosecuting criminal export violations, improving “administrative enforcement” of export controls, coordinating law enforcement actions and “disruption strategies” with U.S. allies and more.

The Court of International Trade's recent decision against the use of first sale valuation for Meyer Corp.'s cookware imports "is a cautionary tale" for importers, customs attorney Lawrence Friedman, partner at Barnes Richardson, wrote in a Feb. 15 blog post. In instances in which parties involved in a potential first-sale transaction are related, such as Meyer's, Friedman said that CBP will "take a very detailed look into the whole series of transactions" and that the importer should expect to show that each tier is a bona fide sale for export to the U.S.

DOJ this week released its revised criminal corporate enforcement policies for voluntary self-disclosures, outlining new criteria companies must meet to qualify for declinations even in cases where there are aggravating factors. The new updates, which are the “first significant changes” to the Criminal Division’s corporate enforcement policies (CEP) since 2017, offer companies “new, significant, and concrete incentives to self-disclose misconduct,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said, speaking at Georgetown Law Center. He also said they give companies incentives to “go far above and beyond the bare minimum when they cooperate with our investigations.”

International law firm Morrison Foerster rung in the new year by announcing that it completed its combination with litigation boutique firm Durie Tangri. Morrison Foerster said that the addition of Durie Tangri's lawyers would strengthen its practice in intellectual property (patent, trademark and copyright), professional liability, white-collar crime and investigations, contract and commercial proceedings, and class actions.

A recent Court of International Trade case that dealt with goods excluded over forced labor concerns ended "with a whimper," leaving the trade bar without any answers on how to challenge CBP forced labor detentions, Crowell & Moring lawyers wrote in a Dec. 29 blog post. Attorneys John Brew, Laurel Saito and Wing Cheung said that while the "importing community was hoping for such guidance," it will be forced to wait as it is "unlikely" that the plaintiff, Virtus Nutrition,will appeal the matter.

Cannabis and cannabis accessory importers now have a "strong legal argument with potentially broad applications to challenge CBP's seizures" of marijuana paraphernalia in light of two recent Court of International Trade decisions, Harris Bricken lawyer Adams Lee said in a Dec. 16 blog post. Both cases involved the question of whether an importer could enter marijuana-related drug paraphernalia into Washington state, given that marijuana was made legal at the state level but remained illegal federally. Lee said that given how the opinions were structured, a state law repealing a past prohibition on such products "could be enough of an 'authorization' by the state law to block the federal prohibition on importing drug paraphernalia."

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite last week touted DOJ's action under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, championing DOJ's $315 million FCPA resolution with ABB over the company's bribery of an official in South Africa's state-owned energy company (see 2212050021). The case was the department's "first coordinated resolution with authorities in South Africa," and has resulted in South African authorities bringing corruption charges of their own against the official, Polite said in closing remarks, as prepared for delivery, Dec. 9 at an anti-corruption conference.

If and when cannabis becomes legal to import into the U.S., there is a "high level of certainty" that a U.S. producer will complain about the fairness of the imports to the domestic industry, leading to antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings, said Adams Lee, international trade attorney at Harris Bricken, during a Dec. 1 webinar hosted by the law firm. Speaking about cannabis and international trade, Lee predicted that if imports of cannabis become legal, they will likely come from Canada -- a nation that has legalized recreational marijuana -- and diminish the market share of U.S.-made product.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation says the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports have been fruitless, and antidumping and countervailing duty laws also are inadequate to counter the wide variety of abuses from China -- industrial espionage, forced technology transfer, discrimination against foreign sales in China, as well as enormous subsidies. "It is time for the U.S. government, ideally working with allies, to craft and implement a new set of trade defense instruments," ITIF Founder Robert Atkinson wrote in a white paper released Nov. 21.

The Federal Maritime Commission hired Phillip "Chris" Hughey as general counsel, where he will provide legal advice and recommendations to the FMC chair and commissioners on regulatory and policy matters, the commission announced Nov. 7. Hughey has previously served as the commission’s deputy general counsel and most recently worked as a foreign service officer with the State Department. Katia Kroutil had been serving as the commission’s acting general counsel and is now listed on the FMC’s website as acting assistant general counsel for general law and regulation.