Hong Kong could lose special status and trade benefits.

Last year, the US passed a law that requires Hong Kong to retain independence to qualify for the continued favorable trading terms with the US. I mentioned this in my blog post on June 15th, 2019 here.

The bill requires the US Secretary of State to certify each year that Hong Kong remains autonomous from China. If Hong Kong does not pass the certification of independence from China, then Hong Kong would lose trade privileges with the US (goods from Hong Kong will now be subject to duties on goods from China).

Fast forward almost a year later – where in late May China’s central government passed a national security law to apply to Hong Kong (as Hong Kong has not been able to pass such a law since they were handed back to China in 1997). The new security law would ban secession, subversion of state power, terrorism, foreign intervention and allows mainland China’s state security agencies to operate in the city.

After passage of the security law, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress that Hong Kong was no longer independent from China – signaling a potential move towards Hong Kong not passing certification.

If Hong Kong loses it’s special status a big impact would be on tariffs on goods from Hong Kong would now apply. This would impact over $66 billion in trade according to 2018 trade numbers. In 2018, Hong Kong was America’s third-largest market for wine, 4th largest for been and seventh largest for agricultural products.

If you have any questions how your imports or exports to and from Hong Kong may be impacted, contact David Hsu 24/7 by phone/text to 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

UK wants group of 10 countries to develop its own 5G technology.

Photo by Brayden Law on Pexels.com

According to NDTV, Britain is seeking cooperation among 9 other nations to form a group to develop their own 5G technology in an effort to curtail dependence on China’s Huawei. One reason Britain may be leading the way because 35% of their 5G network use Huawei’s equipment. The group of countries are likely the other democractic countries in the G7 nations that include Australia, South Korea and India.

However, the current Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked his government to draft a plan to remove Huawei equipment out of the 5G network by 2023. With a potential exit by Huawei, this would leave only two other companies to fill the void – Nokia and Ericsson.

Relations between the UK and China have worsened following passage of new security laws in Beijing that would apply to Hong Kong. Following the passage of the security law, Britain said they would offer 350,000 Hong Kong nationals holding a British National oversees passports the ability relocate to the UK.

Will new US export controls block Huawei’s 5G ambitions?

Photo by Pok Rie on Pexels.com

As previously posted on my blog, the May 19th Commerce Department export rules are part of the US effort to limit Huawei’s access to semiconductor chips needed to build components in their 5G infrastructure. The new rules prohibit chipmakers located mostly in Taiwan and South Korea from using U.S. origin machines and software to produce semiconductors for Huawei.

Huawei relies on Taiwan and South Korean chipmakers to make the actual chips – however the chipmakers are now subject to the US export rules since the machines and software used are based off American machines from US companies and technology.

These new rules were meant to close a loophole that allowed semiconductor foundries to manufacture chips for Huawei as long as the manufacturing occurred outside of the U.S.

The U.S. government views Huawei as a national security threat because their hardware could potentially allow them to access sensitive information and hand it over to the Chinese government – a claim denied by Huawei.

If you have any questions how the new US export control regulations will impact your ability to do business with Huawei or one of its entities, contact export control attorney David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com, dh@gjatradelaw.com.

Unauthorized COVID-19 medicine seized.

Seized COVID-19 medicine, source: CBP.gov

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized 360 pills of medicine marketed to treating COVID-19. The medicine was a violation of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules preventing unauthorized medical treatments that may mislead consumers by making false claims to prevent or treat diseases or may in fact harm the consumer.

The FDA is especially concerned with unauthorized COVID-19 treatments that are marketed towards curing, treating or preventing serious illnesses.

If you have had your good seized by Customs, contact seizure attorney David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

CBP in Puerto Rico seize counterfeit alloy wheels.

Photo by Reynaldo #brigworkz Brigantty on Pexels.com

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) media release, San Juan Field Operations seized a shipment of 844 counterfeit alloy car wheels with an estimated manufacturer suggested retail price of approximately $238,000, if genuine.

The media release quotes CBP officials who claim counterfeit auto parts are safety risks for drivers as the fake rims do not meet industry wide safety standards. The seizure of counterfeit alloy wheels is just one of multiple seizures of car related parts – from fake air bags, fog lights and tires.

If CBP has seized your goods for suspicion of being counterfeit, contact seizure attorney David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

Customs seizes Chinese medication for treatment of COVID-19.

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Image of seized pills, source: CBP.gov

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the O’Hare International Airport international mail facility seized medication from China. The medication made claims it could treat COVID-19, violating FDA laws and therefore seized by CBP. CBP seized a total of 9,600 capsules of “Lianhua Qingwen Jiaonang”. According to various sources online, Lianhua Qingwen Jiaonang is a combination of dozens of herbs in capsule form. According to CBP, the shipment contained an estimated value of $28,797.

If you have had your good seized by Customs, contact customs seizure attorney David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

UK planning to remove Huawei equipment from its 5G networks.

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Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

According to a Financial Times article, the UK is going to remove Huawei from their 5G network and make efforts to remove all Huawei components in the next 3 years. The move by the UK should be welcome news for the US, as Trump administration officials have been pressuring the UK to not use Huawei for their 5G network.

The US has argued that Huawei could build backdoors into network infrastructure and assist in spying efforts by the Chinese government. In the past, the US threatened intelligence efforts between the two countries could be limited if the UK does proceed with the Huawei 5G network.

The recent news developments shifts away from previous UK policy limiting how much Huawei equipment could be used in the 5G networks. Yesterday’s announcement signals a significant shift away.

Other online sources reporting the news also claim the UK response is partially due to public sentiment about China and their handling of the corona virus pandemic.

If your company exports to Huawei and have any questions about compliance with the changing export rules, contact David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

$252,000 in “prop currency/money” seized by Customs.

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Image of seized bundles of “prop money”, source: CBP.gov

In Mid-May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Ohio seized counterfeit $100 bills totaling over $252,000. The shipment was from China to an address in Oklahoma. The package was selected for examination and an x-ray of the package showed what appears to typically be bundled currency.

Upon further inspection, CBP officers found $252,300 in cash (photo above is the actual seized currency). The currency was determined to be fake because it was printed on regular paper and had the same serial number for every bill. Additionally, on the back of the currency were the words in simplified Chinese: 道具专用 (see photo below of the actual image released by Customs).

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Image of simplified Chinese writing on the back of the $100 bill, source: CBP.gov

As an aside – simplified Chinese is the writing used in mainland China. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan all use the traditional form of writing Chinese characters.

The CBP media release explained the Chinese words as foreign writing and did not translate the words in Chinese. The words in Chinese roughly translate to “for prop use only”.

CBP says these notes are “Foreign Writing Notes” and are against Federal law and considered contraband. Sometimes they are also referred to as “motion picture, foreign writing notes”. While the currency is noted for “prop use only”, the currency is seized as the foreign notes are frequently passed off as real currency.

Just my thoughts:

  1. My guess is the person in Oklahoma was going to use the fake money for a video or movie and purchased the play money through a China-based e-commerce portal.
  2. I have never held this kind of prop currency, but maybe the writing in Chinese is erasable? The Secret Service is concerned about the importation of foreign writing notes, and probably has seen many people pass off these notes as real – perhaps the writing in Chinese can be removed?
  3. The CBP media release did not say this importation was referred to the Secret Service or HSI, CBP probably will seize the currency, issue a seizure notice. Without a referral to HSI, CBP has probably determined there was no criminal activity on the part of the importer of record in Oklahoma.

If you have had funny money, or any other of your goods seized by Customs – contact David Hsu if you have any questions – you can call/text 832-896-6288 or email attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

$400,000 in counterfeit merchandise seized by CBP.

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Image of seized goods containing unregistered Bluetooth marks, source: CBP.gov

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Detroit seized electronic goods and licensed merchandise imported from China. The seized goods contained bluetooth marks (unregistered with Bluetooth) on the headphones, smart bands, and various speakers. In addition to the electronic devices, included counterfeit hats bearing copyrighted Star Wars images. If authentic, the value of all goods would retail for about $325,000.

If you have had your goods seized by Customs, contact David Hsu for a no cost consultation on what you need to do to protect yourself – call anytime by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com, dh@gjatradelaw.com.

Game over – CBP seizes counterfeit PS4 controllers.

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Image of fake controllers, source: CBP.gov

This week, CBP seized a shipment of fake PS4 wireless controllers that arrived from Hong Kong. The shipment contained 55 of the dual shock 4 wireless controllers and suspected the controllers were counterfeit since they all had the same serial number.

As is the usual case with seizures based off intellectual property rights violations, an image of the seized controllers was sent to Sony for verification. I’ve never had a trademark holder agree with a client the goods were not authentic.

If authentic the seized controllers would retail for $3,300. If you have had your goods seized by Customs, contact David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

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Alternate image of fake controllers, source: CBP.gov