On April 22, 2024, Canada announced the implementation of a Federal Plastic Registry to monitor the types and volumes of plastic products, including plastic packaging used in agriculture and food manufacturing, through their life cycle on the Canadian market. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced the establishment of Federal Plastics Registry to require plastic resin manufacturers, producers of plastic products (including importers), and service providers to report each year, starting in 2025, on the quantity and types of plastic they place on the market and how that plastic moves through the economy.

The New Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) promises to continue the Committee's role as a spotlight, though perhaps with less  candlepower than his predecessor, retiring Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI)

The European Parliament has adopted a package of laws strengthening the EU’s toolkit to fight money-laundering and terrorist financing. The new laws ensure that people with a legitimate interest, including journalists, media professionals, civil society organisations, competent authorities, and supervisory bodies, will have immediate, unfiltered, direct and free access to beneficial ownership information held in national registries and interconnected at EU level. In addition to current information, the registries will also include data going back at least five years.

Friday the Department of Commerce released an interim final rule amending the Department’s licensing policy for exports of firearms, ammunition, and related components under its jurisdiction. Coming on the six-month anniversary of a controversial "90 day pause" in firearms export license approval, the new rule proposes significant changes.

Included among the munitions and TikTok drama, the foreign aid package signed last week has material changes for the sanctions compliance practitioner. Front and center for sanctions practitioners is the extension of the statute of limitations for sanctions (SOL) violations.

Two Chinese Nationals were indicted for attempting to conceal the ultimate end user for semiconductor manufacturing equipment purchased from a California manufacturer. The defendants sought to acquire the machine through an intermediary company, a proxy they fraudulently represented as the purchaser and end user.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is sanctioning over one dozen entities, individuals, and vessels that have played a central role in facilitating and financing the clandestine sale …

The European Parliament has given its final approval to a new regulation enabling the EU to prohibit the sale, import, and export of goods made using forced labour. Originally proposed in 2021, the rulemaking had been stymied by resistance from industry groups, with the final result lacking much of the efficacy of the US version, the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act.

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) makes changes to the Russia and Belarus sanctions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add a new license exception for EAR99 medical devices and related parts, components, accessories, and attachments for use in or with medical devices that are destined for both countries and the temporarily occupied Crimea region of Ukraine, or the covered regions of Ukraine. The purpose of this final rule is to authorize under a license exception certain exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) of “medical devices” that are being regularly approved and that advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. In addition, this final rule makes two corrections to the EAR related to Russia-related rules published in January, and March, 2024 by correcting an end-user control and adding a cross-reference correction.

A federal jury in Miami has convicted the former Comptroller General of Ecuador  for his role in a multimillion-dollar international bribery and money laundering scheme. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2010 to 2015, Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni, 73, solicited and received over $10 million in bribe payments from Odebrecht S.A., the Brazil-based construction conglomerate.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo and Kenyan Cabinet Secretary of Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Eliud Owalo "affirmed their shared priorities for strengthening the digital economy, promoting innovation, and increasing digital trade and investment between the United States and Kenya," according to a readout from the Commerce Department, At the Wednesday meeting the principals "reaffirmed their intention to cooperate on establishing interoperable privacy regimes and facilitating trusted cross-border data flows." Later Secretary Raimondo hosted a roundtable discussion with several leading women technology leaders in Kenya to "discuss the Biden-Harris Administration’s Digital Transformation with Africa initiative"

Tuesday the Treasury Department announced sanctions on Iranian cyber actors and representatives of Islamist extremists responsible for taking hostage U.S. nationals.

The Justice Department today announced the unsealing of an indictment charging 10 defendants in a scheme to illegally procure aircraft parts, including Honeywell Turbofan Engines, from the United States to service PDVSA’s aircraft fleet in Venezuela, in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division announced the outlines of a voluntary self-disclosure progam in a statement Monday …

Luxury handbag company Gzuniga Ltd., its founder Nancy Teresa Gonzalez de Barberi and Gonzalez’s associate Mauricio Giraldo were sentenced to prison today for illegally importing merchandise …

Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) Brian Nelson will travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico from April 23 – 25 " to discuss "key illicit finance issues," according to a statement. Treasury has identified increased risks in Puerto Rico due to the existence of Puerto Rican financial entities, or PRFEs – chartered and licensed by territorial authorities, which present money laundering vulnerabilities because of their offshore banking business models.

For the first time in fifteen years, the State Department is proposing to revise and increase the registration fees for those required to register with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls …

The United States and Mexico Monday announced a course of remediation to address denials of rights at the RV Fresh Foods facility, which produces guacamole in the state of Michoacán. This case is the first time the United States has used the mechanism in the food manufacturing sector. It is also the first time both the United States and Mexico have identified violations related to the conduct of the petitioning union.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has seen explosive caseload in recent years, though a performance audit finds the committee organization and management has struggled to keep up, according to a report released  by the General Accounting Office (GAO).

The leaders of the House Select Committee on China are calling on the Administration to press allies – particularly Europe and the United Kingdom – to prevent Chinese goods made by Uyghur forced labor from entering their markets. “We are particularly concerned that goods made by Uyghur forced labor continue to flood into Europe and the United Kingdom (UK), which some have described as ‘dumping grounds’ for these products that are otherwise banned from importation into the United States,” Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis) and ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill) wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.