Technology companies and industry groups mostly supported a January State Department rule that will add items to the U.S. Munitions List and remove other items that no longer warrant control (see 2501160027), although they said new restrictions around autonomous underwater vehicles, radar-related technology and more could cause unintended consequences.
American allies, including the EU, should introduce their own versions of the U.S. foreign direct product rule and the October 2022 U.S. persons controls that restricted additional sensitive semiconductor exports (see 2212210059), the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a new report.
New guidance published this week by the European Commission covers how EU sanctions apply to certain shipments of Russian liquified natural gas. The FAQs offer insight into how EU companies can determine whether the LNG they’re transporting is of Russian origin, how they can request permission to transport those shipments, and more.
The Federal Maritime Commission is warning government contractors about “fraudulent solicitations” sent via email from people pretending to be from the FMC. The commission urged companies to check emails for an address that ends in “@fmc.gov.” Emails that don’t end in “@fmc.gov” means “the address did not originate at the Federal Maritime Commission,” it said.
The Commerce Department’s long-awaited proposed rule on routed exports is essentially ready to be published, but it’s unclear how long it may take the new Trump administration to give the agency the green light, officials said last week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on multiple export control-related investigations that could soon lead to public penalties and criminal indictments, Commerce Department officials said last week. They also said BIS is doubling down on Iran-related enforcement as part of the Trump administration's renewed maximum pressure campaign against the country.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., announced March 17 that he has reintroduced a bill to require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural land purchases by certain foreign entities, including those from China and Russia. The Security and Oversight for International Landholdings Act also would broaden disclosure requirements for foreign purchases of U.S. farmland. The bill, which Lankford originally introduced in the last Congress, was referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Imports into the EU of birch and other types of plywood have proven to be a “major source of revenue” for Russia and Belarus and are frequently being used to evade EU sanctions, the European Commission said in a sanctions alert last week.
The European Commission issued updated guidance last week to clarify the exemptions for the temporary storage of Russian crude oil and petroleum products in EU free trade zones.
The Federal Maritime Commission has asked a group of major ocean shipping carriers to provide it with more information about an amendment to an agreement that would allow them to participate in the New York Shipping Exchange index governing board, “which shall discuss and agree on all aspects of the development, implementation, modification and auditing of container freight indices, as produced by NYSHEX,” the FMC said in a notice released March 14. The commission said its notice prevented “the proposed amendment to this agreement from becoming effective as originally scheduled” on March 12. The parties to the agreement are carriers CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, COSCO Shipping Lines, COSCO Shipping Co., HMM, Maersk, and Ocean Network Express.