China Products Made With Forced Labor Are Now in U.S. Customs’ Crosshairs
On May 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced it had issued a withhold release order (WRO) against hair products manufactured by a Xinjiang company called Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories Co. Ltd. (Haolin). The WRO was issued under the authority of 19 U.S.C. 1307, which prohibits importing merchandise produced by forced labor. To be
Force Majeure in the Time of Coronavirus
Way back in the pre-coronavirus days — October 30-2019 — in Do Not Let Force Majeure be a Major Force In Your China Contract, we did a post warning of force majeure provisions in contracts with Chinese companies. That post began with the following warning/joke; Pull out and look at your contract with your Chinese
转运：并非应对关税的灵丹妙药
A few days ago, in China Manufacturing: “Elvis Has Left the Building”, we mentioned a South China Morning Post article suggesting the manufacturing exodus from China will not abate, regardless of any patches trade negotiators manage to place on the overall, strained U.S.-China relationship. That article included some sobering stats on the giant sucking sound we
Illegal Transshipping/False Country of Origin — Help Us Help You Get Rich
Earlier this year, “Univar USA Inc. paid U.S. $62.5 Million to Resolve Allegations that it Evaded $36 Million in Antidumping Duties on Imported Chinese Saccharin.” My law firm profited handsomely from this case because we brought it to the government’s attention and then assisted on it. The United States Department of Justice describes this case
The Legal Relationship Between China and Hong Kong and Why This Matters to You and Your Business
Our China lawyers are often asked to explain the relationship between Hong Kong and China. When I would get asked this, I would usually start by telling American clients to think of Hong Kong’s relationship to China as being similar to New York’s relationship to China. For our European clients I would use London or
New California Data Privacy Law Will Affect Businesses Across the Globe
This isn’t the first time I’ve written on the China Law Blog about the California Consumer Privacy Act (or “CCPA”), California’s massive new privacy law that many compare to EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (or “GDPR”), but it’s certainly becoming more important now as CCPA takes effect in about six weeks. If you weren’t taking CCPA seriously
How To Survive an Increasingly Difficult China
Since October 6, 2018, one of our recurring themes has been that China has become far more difficult for foreign companies. It is what we have been calling the New Normal. This New Normal extends to all foreign companies that do business in or with China, but it has hit U.S. and Canadian companies particularly
How to Avoid China Tariffs: Make an Exclusion Request and Fast
The seemingly endless U.S.-China trade war keeps slogging along. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has already imposed 25% tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports on three previous lists (List 1 = $34 billion starting from July 2018, List 2 = $16 billion from August 2018, List 3 = $200 billion from
China’s Greater Bay Area and Country of Origin Markings
In a recent LinkedIn conversation someone raised the possibility of the “Made in GBA (Greater Bay Area)” label replacing “Made in Hong Kong” and “Made in China” as a country of origin marking in South China. It’s an intriguing idea that would certainly reflect the spirit of the GBA project. Could “Made in GBA” actually be a