EO Sets in Motion Ban on Transactions with Chinese App Developers and Owners

In this article for Corporate Compliance Insights, Kirkland partners Mario Mancuso, Sanjay Mullick, Anthony Rapa and Jeremy Iloulian discuss a Trump executive order from early 2021, considering who it impacts and how and what may come to pass under the Biden administration.

“On January 5, 2021, President Trump issued an Executive Order on “Addressing the Threat Posed By Applications and Other Software Developed or Controlled By Chinese Companies” (“Chinese Apps EO”) that, effective 45 days after the date of the order (i.e., February 19, 2021), would restrict certain transactions involving developers of certain Chinese software applications. Specifically, the Chinese Apps EO would restrict transactions by persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction, or involving property subject to U.S. jurisdiction, with persons that “develop or control” Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay and WPS Office.

Though companies would be well-served to examine their exposure to these applications, it should be noted that based on the effective date of the Chinese Apps EO, implementation of the restrictions will be left to the Biden Administration, which at the time of this writing has not yet commented on it.”

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