The U.S. and the European Union agreed to develop “convergent” export controls on sensitive technologies and work more closely on investment screening, the White House said in a fact sheet released after the Sept. 29 inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (see 2109270027). Although the White House didn’t name specific technologies that could come under more export control or investment scrutiny, it stressed the importance of semiconductor supply chain cooperation and said the two sides agreed to “achieve concrete outcomes by the next meeting.”
A new U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report outlines Canada’s new and continued 2021 import requirements for U.S. romaine lettuce. The Sept. 27 report details information required with all imports, including the proof of origin, sampling information and testing information. Among the new requirements is a preharvest testing option for the imports, which stipulates that samples must be taken no more than seven days before harvest, and other conditions. The additional import requirements will be in effect from Sept. 30 until Dec. 31, 2021.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Texas semiconductor component manufacturer nearly $500,000 for illegally exporting controlled wafers to Russia via Bulgaria (see 2012210013), the agency said in a Sept. 28 order. The company, Silicon Space Technology Corporation, which began doing business as Vorago Technologies in 2015, worked with a Russian engineering firm to export “rad-hard 16MB Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) wafers,” which were controlled under the Export Administration Regulations for spacecraft and related components.
A rare cuneiform tablet with a portion of the ancient literary work Epic of Gilgamesh was returned to Iraq after a federal district court ordered that retail giant Hobby Lobby forfeit the tablet, the Justice Department said. A repatriation ceremony was held Sept. 23 at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The tablet originated in Iraq but then was illegally entered into the U.S. by an auction house that then sold it to Hobby Lobby. The retail chain purchased the tablet to display it at the Museum of the Bible, also in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement seized the tablet, which was ordered July 27 to be returned to Iraq (see 2107280028).
Although President Joe Biden’s new executive order authorizing sanctions against Ethiopia (see 2109170036) allows for a potentially broad scope of designations, it also signals that the administration will take a slow, cautious approach to its new authorities, law firms said. Companies shouldn’t expect immediate U.S. action against Ethiopia, the firms said, as the administration seems primarily concerned about deterring bad behavior and assuring humanitarian access can still flow to the region.
Taiwan has formally asked to join the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, a few days after China asked to join the trade pact, a Taiwanese wire service reported.The trade agreement was originally designed to counter China's influence in Asia, and has been ratified by Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It is now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted 16 people and 37 entities from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, all of which were originally designated for counter-narcotics reasons. OFAC delisted the 16 people because they changed the behavior that led to their designations, a spokesperson for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said Sept. 22. “These individuals demonstrated a change in behavior and circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Currently, they are no longer engaged in sanctionable activities.” OFAC removed sanctions from the 37 companies because they were originally designated only for being owned or controlled by the people OFAC delisted. “These companies, most of which are defunct, are not independently linked to any individuals who remain on the SDN List,” the spokesperson said. The OFAC notice also includes aliases for the people and entities.
The United Kingdom's sanctions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo will enter into force on Oct. 7 under its 2021 regulations, with amendments to align with and enable implementation of a United Nations resolution adopted June 29 that extends the financial and travel sanctions outlined in the original 2008 resolution to apply to individuals and entities designated for "planning, directing, sponsoring or participating in attacks against medical personnel or humanitarian personnel."
The European Commission commenced, on its own initiative, a partial interim review of the countervailing duties on imports of rainbow trout from Turkey, it said Sept. 20. The commission is reviewing product described as “rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) live weighing 1, 2 kg or less each; or fresh, chilled, frozen and/or smoked: in the form of whole fish (with heads on), whether or not gilled, whether or not gutted, weighing 1,2 kg or less each; or with heads off, whether or not gilled, whether or not gutted, weighing 1 kg or less each; or in the form of fillets weighing 400 g or less each originating in the Republic of Turkey.” The commission said it is conducting the review because “there is sufficient evidence” that the circumstances with regard to subsidization “on the basis of which the existing measures were imposed have changed and that these changes are of a lasting nature.” The Turkish government enacted these changes in 2016, specifically making "significant changes on the structure and the terms of implementation of the subsidies granted by the Turkish Government to producers of rainbow trout." Those changes "led to a decrease of direct subsidies received by Turkish rainbow trout producers," the notice said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a large virtual currency exchange for helping to facilitate transactions related to illegal ransomware attacks, and updated an advisory on the risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments. The Sept. 21 designation targets SUEX OTC, S.R.O., which has processed transactions involving illegal proceeds from at least eight ransomware variants, OFAC said. The agency said that more than 40% of SUEX’s “known transaction history is associated with illicit actors.”