Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Members of a new export enforcement partnership recently formed by the Five Eyes countries released new guidance Sept. 26 for industry and academia on countering evasion of export controls and sanctions on Russia.
The CEOs of two major European multinationals called for the simplification and increased coordination of sanctions at a forum held by the Atlantic Council last week. Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defense and Space, said the implementation of Russia sanctions, and the latest EU sanctions package in particular (see 2306230013), has “triggered such a bureaucracy,” with “a degree of minutia that is killing small companies.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 28 entities to the Entity List this week for various reasons, all falling under the umbrella of “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.” The final rule, effective Sept. 27, adds entities in China, Finland, Germany, Oman, Pakistan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. It also modifies entries for two entities and removes a Military End User List entity.
Sanctions and enforcement professionals from the U.K., the EU and the U.S. said although they are pleased with the unprecedented unity and coordination among nations opposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is an ongoing challenge to fight export control evasion and asset hiding among Russian elites.
The Commerce Department last week released the final version of its guardrails for recipients of Chips Act funding, measures it said will prevent its semiconductor industry grants from being used to benefit certain “foreign countries of concern,” including China.
Federal Maritime Commission staff have "nearly" completed the drafting process for the commission's upcoming final rule on detention and demurrage, and are "reviewing several late filed subsequent comments that have come in within the past month," FMC General Counsel Chris Hughey said at a Sept. 21 FMC meeting.
Global manufacturing firm 3M reached a $9.6 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week after it allegedly violated U.S. sanctions on Iran. OFAC said the company’s Swiss subsidiary knowingly sold reflective license plate sheeting through a German reseller to Bonyad Taavon Naja, an entity controlled by Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces.
The House Financial Services Committee advanced legislation this week that could apply full blocking sanctions on a host of Chinese companies in what Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., described as the “most severe set of financial restrictions the House of Representatives has ever considered.” Barr’s bill, the Chinese Military and Surveillance Company Sanctions Act (see 2302060005 and 2306130062), could lead to new financial sanctions on companies subject to certain U.S. investment restrictions and export control licensing requirements, including China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., Huawei and other major Chinese technology companies.
The U.S. and three of its partners this week expanded the list of common high-priority items that exporters and others should closely monitor for potential diversion to Russia. The list includes seven new Harmonized System codes -- among them for bearings used for heavy vehicles and antennae used for navigation systems -- and was rearranged to provide “greater clarity” to exporters conducting due diligence on shipments.