Arkansas Lawyer Basic Tim Griffin directed Syngenta Seeds, an organization underneath the umbrella of China’s state-owned chemical big ChemChina, to divest its 160 acres of agricultural land throughout the state on Tuesday. This determination stems from the state’s Act 636 of 2023, named To Amend the Legislation Regarding Possession and Possession of Actual Property, which limits international possession of Arkansas’s agricultural land. Instituted with strict penalties for violations, the Act bars explicit international entities from holding pursuits in Arkansas’s farming areas.
Integral to Act 636 is its definition of a “prohibited international social gathering,” encompassing residents or residents of nations flagged by federal International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 C.F.R. § 126.1, equivalent to Iran, North Korea and China. This regulatory highlight was intensified with ChemChina’s significant 2017 acquisition of Syngenta. Including to the scrutiny, the US Division of Protection tagged ChemChina as a “Chinese military company” working throughout the U.S. in October 2022.
The mandate from Arkansas officers has been clear and instant. Lawyer Basic Tim Griffin, supported by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has emphasised the important nationwide safety pursuits and the protection of Arkansas’s agricultural belongings. Lawyer Basic Griffin elucidated:
That is the primary enforcement motion I’ve taken underneath the authority granted underneath Act 636 of 2023 by the Basic Meeting… The land in query is owned by Northrup King Seed Co., a subsidiary of Syngenta Seeds, LLC… I’m ordering ChemChina, as a ‘prohibited foreign-party-controlled enterprise’ to divest this land inside two years… Moreover, because the proprietor did not file in a well timed method paperwork required by Act 1046 of 2021… I’m additionally imposing a civil penalty of $280,000…
