The U.S. and its allies should increase their scrutiny of China's foreign investment in commercial remote sensing firms to ensure the Chinese military does not benefit from such transactions, the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a new report Dec. 16.

The U.S. government needs a better framework to allow various agencies to coordinate on economic security measures, such as export controls and investment restrictions, Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves said.

Even if a transaction is authorized by a Treasury Department sanctions license or a Commerce Department export license, it still may be subject to prohibitions or notification requirements under Treasury’s new outbound investment rules (see 2410280043), the agency said in new FAQs.

New guidance published by the EU last week outlines steps people and companies should take to make sure their dual-use goods and technology aren’t being sent to Russia, including red flags they should be monitoring as part of their compliance programs. It also offers insight into how the European Commission interprets violations of the bloc’s anti-circumvention laws, with a specific focus on minimum due diligence expectations for businesses and banks.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined C.H. Robinson, one of the world’s largest logistics firms, more than $250,000 after OFAC said its non-U.S. subsidiaries violated sanctions against Iran and Cuba. The five subsidiaries allegedly provided freight brokerage or transportation services for 82 shipments to or from Iran or involving Iranian or Cuban goods, while one of the companies also did business with sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air.

The U.S. and China need to pause their escalating trade restrictions against one another and have a “serious” conversation about how to manage national security risks around technology to prevent a dangerous decoupling of their two economies, the outgoing leader of a major U.S.-China business organization warned this week.

The Biden administration is planning more policy actions related to artificial intelligence chips -- including possibly more export enforcement -- before President-elect Donald Trump takes over next month, said Ben Buchanan, the White House’s special adviser for AI.

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.

U.S. persons may be able to host sanctioned people as speakers at overseas conferences without a specific authorization, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said, marking an apparent reversal of the agency’s previous sanctions policy for speaking engagements.

China appears to be preparing to use its own set of extraterritorial export controls against the U.S. in response to the Biden administration’s latest chip restrictions and Entity List additions, an official with the U.S.-China Business Council said.