The House approved several export control and sanctions bills late Sept. 2, including two aimed at China.
A Texas-based freight forwarder will pay the Office of Foreign Assets Control more than $1.6 million to settle allegations that it violated sanctions against Venezuela and Iran. OFAC said company employees bypassed its sanctions compliance program procedures by working with a designated Venezuelan airline and an Iran-linked aircraft to transport goods from Mexico to a customer in Argentina.
The State Department is finalizing changes from a January rule that will add and remove items on the U.S. Munitions List and clarify the control scope of others. It said some new items should be subject to export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, while others “no longer warrant inclusion” or will soon be moved to the Commerce Department’s Commerce Control List. The agency will also create a new license exemption for underwater drones and tweak other portions of the January rule, but it declined to make multiple changes requested by exporters.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued three new FAQs to provide guidance on its Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions involving brokerage firms.
House Select Committee on China ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., urged the Trump administration Aug. 19 to continue sanctioning China for buying Iranian oil.
The Census Bureau is updating certain field names in the Automated Export System related to the U.S. Principal Party in Interest address and state of origin, it said in an Aug. 15 email to industry. The agency is changing the name of the “Address of the USPPI” to “Address of Origin” to clarify that the USPPI address “represents the origin of movement, not the address associated with the USPPI [Employer ID Number] or headquarters address,” it said. The change was previewed in a final rule issued by the agency on Aug. 13 (see 2508130022).
The Census Bureau is finalizing a rule that will expand the types of parties responsible for submitting export filings for in-transit shipments that are imported to the U.S. from foreign countries before being exported to another foreign destination. The agency also is adding new language to acknowledge that those parties rely on information from others to make sure the shipments comply with export controls, said it plans to eventually move forward with a new country of origin reporting requirement for in-transit exports, revised its detention for "ultimate consignee" and made other clarifications to the Foreign Trade Regulations.
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls recently posted the presentations and white papers from its last Defense Trade Advisory Group plenary in December. During the plenary, industry officials recommended that the agency scale down the International Traffic in Arms Regulations’ brokering reporting rules to reduce filing burdens for the defense industry (see 2412050023). Another presentation focused on issues surrounding controlled reexports and retransfers of legacy equipment; a third presentation focused on the barriers, inefficiencies and opportunities related to co-production, codevelopment, and co-sustainment of defense articles within U.S. international trade laws. DDTC also posted the minutes from the meeting along with other documents.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control's $11.8 million sanctions fine levied on Interactive Brokers earlier this month is another sign that the agency intends to focus enforcement on "financial gatekeepers," including investment firms, accountants and wealth advisers (see 2506230023), Baker Botts said in a client alert.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved several bills July 22 aimed at speeding up the foreign arms sales process, strengthening the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership and enhancing certain Iran sanctions.