Brian Wong

Professional Staff

Export Compliance Advisor

Brian Wong is an export compliance advisor in the firm's Washington, D.C., office. Brian has nearly two decades of experience with export compliance, including licensing, classification, and enforcement matters under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the sanctions regulations enforced by the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the International Traffic In Arms Regulations (ITAR).

He assists clients in resolving export licensing and trade sanctions issues, with particular expertise in technology, software, and encryption matters, and crafting export compliance programs and procedures. Brian works extensively with the firm's clients in China concerning their technology transactions with U.S. companies and their establishment of operations in the United States, and with U.S. clients obtaining investments from China.

Practice Highlights

Nuts and bolts export and sanctions compliance

Provides ongoing assistance to clients in complying with the export control and trade sanctions regulations, including: licensing issues; resolving questions of regulatory interpretation; issue spotting; identifying prohibited parties and exemptions therefore; and establishing export compliance policies and procedures. Able to resolve many issues quickly based on past experience, and to research others efficiently and in a time-sensitive manner.

Multiple agency regulatory experience

Has extensive experience with the EAR, OFAC and ITAR regulations, which is critical to identifying when different regulatory regimes apply and ensuring compliance with all. While not an engineer, he has sufficient technical knowledge to understand a broad range of clients' products and to fit them within the regulatory regimes. This breadth and depth of knowledge benefits clients with broad compliance exposure, including technology companies, and major professional technical organizations and associations, allowing him to identify and resolve the many export and sanctions issues they encounter on an ongoing basis.

Foreign investments and acquisitions under CFIUS review

Assists clients with notifications to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) of certain foreign investments in, or acquisitions of, U.S. businesses involved with critical technologies. Under recently revised regulations, export classifications under the EAR and ITAR U.S. Munitions List determinations are central to CFIUS review of many foreign investments in or acquisitions of U.S. businesses. These transactions often require corollary review of export compliance due diligence issues and related contract provisions, often on tight deal deadlines.