Glossary

The Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that sets safety and quality standards for food, drugs, cosmetics, and other household substances sold as consumer products. The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, the US food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation and by regulating the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products. The FDA plays a significant role in the nation's counterterrorism capability, as it is responsible for ensuring the security of the food supply and fostering the development of medical products needed to respond to deliberate and naturally emerging public health threats.

A for-hire motor carrier transports goods for other entities, as opposed to transporting its own commodities exclusively.

Forced placed refers to insurance that is purchased by a bank, mortgage company, or other lender on financed property when the borrower has failed to comply with the lender's insurance requirements for the property, with the premium charged back to the borrrower.

Force majeure is a French term meaning a superior force. It is an unexpected or uncontrollable event that upsets one's plans or releases one from obligation.

Force majeure insurance provides coverage for financial losses arising out of the inability to bring a project to completion. The coverage encompasses delays as well as total termination of the contract resulting from events totally outside the control of the contractor (i.e., fire, earthquake, war, revolution, flood, and epidemics). Types of losses covered by the policy include continued debt servicing, loss of income, ongoing fixed costs, spoilage, and related contingencies. The coverage has a very limited domestic market but is commonly placed as a political risk coverage for contractors working in foreign countries.

Foreign-cubed litigation refers to a lawsuit brought by foreign investors who bought their shares in foreign-domiciled companies on foreign exchanges for violations of American securities laws with respect to those securities.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act establishes rules for the reporting of foreign financial assets held by US taxpayers in a foreign financial institution (FFI) or a nonfinancial foreign entity (NFFE). FATCA imposes a 30 percent FATCA withholding tax on withholdable payments made to an FFI or an NFFE unless the FFI or the NFFE meets certain stipulated conditions.

As defined in the Motor Carrier Act (MCA) of 1980, the term means commerce between any place in a foreign country, or between the United States and a territory or possession of the United States, insofar as such transportation takes place within the United States. It also includes commerce between places in a foreign country or countries (e.g., trade between Canada and Mexico), insofar as such transportation takes place within the United States. For purposes of motor carrier liability limits requirements, motor carriers in foreign commerce are subject to the same requirements as carriers in interstate commerce.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 is a law imposing criminal liability on corporate directors and officers for illegal payments made to foreign officials. For example, the minister of trade in Country A may demand an annual $50,000 payment from Corporation X in return for allowing the corporation to ship its products into Country A. Corporation X's payment of such monies would constitute a violation of FCPA and could subject Corporation X and its directors and officers to liability in the United States. FCPA prosecutions increased markedly because the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOx) requires that senior executives scrutinize their company's internal controls, certify its financial statements, and report possible FCPA violations to the company's board of directors, its audit committee, or its chief legal officer.

Foreign currency controls are the foreign exchange controls that could disrupt the timely payment of policyholder obligations denominated in a foreign currency (i.e., $US).