Baker McKenzie is pleased to launch the fourth in our Biden Supply Chain Policy video series focused on the critical minerals and strategic materials supply chain, which is another of the critical supply chains that has been a particular focus of the Biden Administration. This supply chain includes lithium, cobalt and other rare earths and minerals that are the building blocks of products used every day. The Biden Administration has been pursuing policies aimed at…
Following our first two short videos on key trends (see here) and the semiconductor supply chain (see here), Baker McKenzie is pleased to launch the third in our Biden Supply Chain Policy video series focused on the large-capacity batteries supply chain. This is another of the critical supply chains that has been a particular focus of the Biden Administration’s supply chain policies. Large-capacity batteries are an important part of the energy transition. Demand for these batteries…
In an era where supply chain disruptions and risks are regular front-page news, the Biden Administration has been undertaking a range of initiatives intended to create resilient supply chains that reflect the Administration’s policies around national security, foreign policy, human rights, and the US economy. Considering the non-stop legal and compliance developments in this space, with more on the horizon, in-house counsel and compliance professionals for companies with supply chains that touch the United States…
On 19 October 2021, the EU Commission published its 2022 Work Programme (the “Programme“), which sets out the key goals that the EU Commission hopes to achieve in 2022. Chief amongst these is a desire to make “A Europe Fit for the Digital Age”, with a key proposal to achieve this being a possible “European Chips Act”. In the Programme, the EU Commission has stated that it will publish a proposal for a European Chips Act (the…
Concern regarding IP theft and other forms of unfair trade practices have been of paramount importance in the past five years in the United States – and have indeed been the justification for imposing significant and long-lasting trade barriers. The Biden Administration affirmed its commitment to using a wide range of remedies to address such trade practices through a set of reports on the 100-day interagency reviews conducted pursuant to Executive Order 14017 “America’s Supply…
Introduction In early March of this year, a bipartisan group of members of the House Armed Services Committee formed the Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force (the “Task Force”). Co-chaired by House Democrat Elissa Slotkin (Michigan) and Republican Mike Gallagher (Wisconsin), the Task Force was formed to address what has been perceived as U.S. overreliance on vulnerable defense supplies manufactured in other countries, such as China. We previously reported on this on our blog here. …
On June 8, 2021, the White House published a set of reports on the 100-day interagency reviews conducted pursuant to Executive Order 14017 “America’s Supply Chains” (“the Reports”). The Reports were accompanied by a White House Fact Sheet summarizing the key findings, expressing support for some of the policy recommendations, and announcing additional Biden Administration measures directed at strengthening the resilience of the country’s supply chains. Our prior blog post summarizing high-level key compliance-related aspects…
On June 8, the White House published a set of reports on the 100-day interagency reviews conducted pursuant to Executive Order 14017 “America’s Supply Chains” (“the Reports”). The Reports assessed supply chain risks and vulnerabilities related to the following four key supply chains and made policy recommendations to address those risks: semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging;large capacity batteries, including electric vehicle batteries;critical minerals and materials; andpharmaceuticals and advanced pharmaceutical ingredients. The Reports were accompanied by…
On April 20, 2021, the Biden Administration took steps to address cybersecurity risks in the US energy sector industrial base by announcing a 100-day cybersecurity initiative for electricity subsector industrial control systems (“100-Day Plan”) and by issuing, on April 22, 2021, a Request for Information to inform future recommendations for US energy systems’ supply chain security (“RFI”). Public comments in response to the RFI are due by June 7, 2021. These actions support the Biden…
On April 21, the US Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) published a request for comments on supply chains for the production of agricultural commodities and food products under the America’s Supply Chains Executive Order (the “Supply Chain EO”) that President Biden signed on February 24, 2021. (See our blog post on the Supply Chain EO for more background.) Agricultural commodities and food products is one of the six industrial sectors the supply chains of which are subject to review pursuant…