27th January 2024 – 2nd February 2024
- LOCAL NEWS
No news reported.
- INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1.Citing China, House lawmakers push US Federal Maritime Commission to start shipping exchange rulemaking
On Thursday, 1st February 2024, the lead House sponsors of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and a dozen other House lawmakers urged the Federal Maritime Commission to quickly begin forging a new rule on shipping exchanges to prevent China from manipulating the global shipping market.
Furthermore, a group of 19 senators and congressmen have written to the White House to shore up American seapower and counterbalance China, citing China’s aggression in the maritime sector.
The signatories to the new letter, dated 29th January 2024, expressed regret at the "precipitous" decline of the U.S. merchant fleet and the failure of the government to underwrite the cost of lifting it up again. With Chinese pressure building in the Western Pacific and asymmetric security threats on the rise in the Red Sea, they called for the Biden administration to help turn around the sector's long-term decline. The policy interventions would fall on three axes: appointing an "interagency maritime policy coordinator" who would report directly to the president; using Defense Production Act authority to invest in shipping; and "de-risking" the U.S. maritime domain from exposure to China.
Related Publications:
Maritime Executive/01.02.2023/senators call on white-house to rejuvenate american maritime power
Inside Trade/01.01.2024/citing china house lawmakers push fmc start shipping exchange rulemaking
USNI/2024/01/30/lawmakers call on biden to create a new maritime policy
2.European Commission package on European Economic Security
On the 24th January 024, the EU Commission has adopted a new package of measures aimed at strengthening European economic security. This package follows the European Economic Security Strategy published in June 2023.
The new package includes a Communication on “Advancing European economic security” and puts forward relevant initiatives including :
- A proposal for a new Regulation for the screening of foreign investments. This proposal builds on the lessons drawn from existing FDI Regulation and seeks to strengthen the screening of foreign investments, creating minimum sectoral scopes for screening, strengthening provisions for investment made by EU entities that are ultimately foreign-owned or controlled, and ensuring more harmonisation between Member States in the screening process.
- A white paper on outbound investments, reflecting on the need to monitor and assess the risk associated with EU outbound investments, with a focus on advanced technologies. On the basis of the white paper and of stakeholder consultation, a risk assessment will be carried out to establish the need for possible policy action.
- A white paper on export controls, seeking to harmonise the approach to exports of a number of dual-use goods and technologies. The White Paper proposes both short and medium-term actions to address concerns the global context for export controls, especially in the light of such developments as the rapid deployment of sanctions on Russia. The Commission will make a proposal to introduce uniform EU controls for those items that would have been adopted in the multilateral regimes had it not been for the blockage of the decision-making process within these regimes. The Commission also proposes to create a forum for political coordination, which would allow discussions between the Commission and Member States at an appropriate senior level to foster common EU positions on export controls. By summer 2024, the Commission will adopt a Recommendation to improve coordination between Member States and the Commission on any new National Control List envisaged by a Member State before adoption, to allow for comments on potential effects beyond that Member State’s borders. This would improve the EU capacity to identify risks linked to items which are not yet controlled at the multilateral level.
According to the aforementioned Communication, the legislative proposal presented by the Commission aims at revising the framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the EU ("FDI Screening Regulation”) and improving the effectiveness of the FDI Screening Regulation by addressing the shortcomings of the current mechanism. It aims to ensure that all Member States have a screening system in place so as to avoid loopholes in the screening of risky transactions, to focus on the cases which present the highest risks and ensure there is greater accountability within the system in respect of the security or public order concerns expressed by Member States and/or the Commission.
Related Publications:
ECSA C-13415 For information | ECSA SPC | Commission package on European Economic Security
Europa/commission/press release/ Commission announes initiatives to strengthen economic security
CSIS/analysis/european unions economic security strategy update
Gov Uk/price cap coalition oil price cap opc compliance and enforcement alert
3. US TREASURY REPORT
The US Treasury Report for all actions reported is hereby attached.
Related Article:
Attachment 2: US Treasury Report for week 27/01/2024 -02/02/2024
4. PIRACY REPORT
The Piracy Report for all actions reported is hereby attached.
Related Article:
Attachment 3: Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, for the period between 3 –31 January 2024
Nothing important to report from IMO, ILO and Parliament of Representatives.