The PT Law Blog

This week the U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would prohibit federal government agencies from contracting for goods or services from any person or business that does business with a U.S.-designated State Sponsor of Terrorism. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.).

According to a press release issued by Rep. Rivera's office:

"This amendment would prohibit businesses that engage in business activity with terrorist nations—those nations that have been officially designated as sponsor of terrorism by our own government—from contracting and procurement opportunities with the Department of Defense. This is an issue of protecting not only American security, but protecting American jobs." Congressman Rivera said.

You can read more about it here.

According to a recent article in Space News, export control reform legislation may be take up by the House of Representatives as soon as next week.  The measure would focus on a small component of the larger export control reform efforts: satellite components. 

In the article, an unnamed Congressional staffer says: “The defense authorization act, one of those must-pass bills, is going to be on the House floor next Wednesday,” the staffer said May 10 here at a meeting of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (Comstac). “One of the things Mr. Berman and others would like to do is to attach the content of this bill as an amendment to that bill.”

You can read the entire Space News article, here. 

Last week the the Department of State announced that it had reached an "administrative agreement with Alpine Aerospace Corporation and TS Trade Tech Incorporated of New Jersey to resolve violations of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) related to the export of significant military equipment."

According to documents published by the State Department Alpine "engaged in six exports of parts for use on a Hawk missile system, and in a separate violation, failed to obtain a DSP-83 Non-Transfer and Use Certificate for these exports. Alpine cited an existing export license on export control documents for the exports which did not, in fact, authorize the export of parts for the Hawk missile system [to South Korea]. TS Trade engaged in one export of aircraft parts and associated equipment without authorization."

Additional information is available here.

Mauricio J. Tamargo

The current commerce and travel being transacted between Cuba and the United States  should be subjected to a fee to be used to settle the debt Cuba owes our fellow Americans  with certified claims. Settling and paying these claims will achieve a goal of both the pro-Cuba sanctions and the anti-Cuba embargo supporters, while simultaneously removing a significant obstacle to making progress in U.S. - Cuba relations.

This proposed solution calls for imposing at least a 10% fee on the value of all transactions between the U.S. and Cuba, including travel, sales or transfer of goods, services, and commodities, and remittances. Funds raised from this fee will be used to create a settlement fund at the Department of the Treasury.  Americans with certified claims can tap this settlement fund for payments to fully satisfy the debt owed to them, including interest, in accordance with the certified claim issued to them by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, at the Department of Justice.

Resolving these claims is neither a pro nor anti economic sanctions proposal. It simply helps fellow Americans, who have been forgotten in this Cuba policy debate, find justice and peace at a time when many of them could use this compensation to find closure and start a new. There are 5,913 certified and pending American claims against the government of Cuba which are currently valued at over $7 billion that have gone unpaid for over 50 years. These claims are based on real and personal property expropriated by the communist government of Cuba without compensation. These claims were all evaluated and certified by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, which I chaired for eight years, under the first and second Cuba Claims Programs.

Claims programs are not designed to remain unpaid for 50 years. Frankly, having the Cuba Claims Program go unpaid for 50 years makes a mockery of the international claims process. Typically these programs are settled after a few years and, while it may take a little longer, half a century sets a new and untenable precedent for future claims programs.

In an exclusive interview with the Indian Country Today Media Network, Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Alaska) talks about the past year in Congress as well as his plans for 2012 and beyond. 

Akaka, who announced early this that he would be retiring at the end of this Congress, said that his two primary legislative goals for his last year in Congress include passing the the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act as well as Carcieri Fix legislation.

With regards to Carcieri, Akaka said:

Accoring to the Australian newspaper The Canberra Times, there are concerns that Japan's recent easing of export control laws could hurt Australian defense contractors participating in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Japan recently announced that parts Japanese companies were making in Japan for use on the JSF would be available for planes in other countries.  Follow this link to read the complete story, "Australian bids for JSF work put in jeopardy."

Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community faces potential Carcieri-related issues as it seeks to place into trust 23 acres of farmland. According to the Shakopee Valley News, the Prior Lake City Council is considering whether it should weigh in with the federal government is support of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community's application with the Bureau of Indian Affairs:

On one hand, some question the tribe's need for additional trust land, with nearly half of the more than 2,500 acres of tribal land now in federal trust. But other local officials, including some members of the Prior Lake City Council, also worry about disrupting their positive working relationships with the tribe.

In a February 2009 Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, the Court considered whether the federal government has the ability to take land into trust for American Indian tribes recognized after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA).

The U.S. government announced today that one individual and ten (10) shipping companies located in Malta have been sanctioned for having links to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). IRISL is a specially designated national (SDN) under U.S. law.

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen said "[a]s IRISL and its subsidiaries continue their deceptive efforts to escape the grasp of U.S. and international sanctions, we will continue to take action—as we are today—to expose the front companies, agents and managers working with IRISL and work to stop this illicit business."

For sevearal years, "IRISL has facilitated shipments of military-related cargo destined for Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) and its subordinate entities, including organizations designated by the United States for sanctions pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13382 and listed in United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 in 2006, 1747 in 2007, and 1929 in 2010. The Department of State designated MODAFL pursuant to E.O. 13382 in October 2007, and the Treasury Department designated IRISL in September 2008," the release added. 

For more information, visit the Treasury Department website.

by Jason Poblete

This week the Department of State published a much anticipated proposed rule to amend Part 129 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) relating to brokers and brokering activities.

According to the Federal Register notice, "[t]he proposed revisions are intended to clarify registration requirements, the scope of brokering activities, prior approval requirements and exemptions, procedures for obtaining prior approval and guidance, and reporting and record-keeping of such activities." You can download a pdf-version of the proposed regulations by following this link

Is your company ready for the upcoming changes in HS 2012?

The end of 2011 is upon us and we wanted remind our clients of the major changes that are being made in 2012 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). These changes take place every five years or so. According to the latest information from the U.S. Government, the World Customs Organization's (WCO) recommended changes to the Harmonized System (HS) are scheduled to take effect on or about January 2012. The majority of these changes are in the food-related chapters (1-21); however, important changes will be made to the following chapters as well: