The Commerce Department has drafted a regulation that will address the ability of U.S. companies to participate in 5G standards setting bodies involving Huawei, a top Commerce official said. The rule is still being discussed within Commerce and has not yet been cleared for interagency review, Matt Borman, Commerce’s deputy assistant secretary for export administration, said during an April 29 Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee meeting.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control renewed a general license that authorizes transactions between certain companies and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., OFAC said April 21. General License No. 8F, which replaces No. 8E, authorizes transactions between PdVSA and Chevron Corp., Haliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Weatherford International, with certain restrictions, through 12:01 a.m. Dec. 1, 2020. The license was scheduled to expire April 22.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has been quickly addressing humanitarian licensing issues from industry but could be doing more to encourage the flow of aid to Iran, a former OFAC official and a sanctions lawyer said. OFAC has been rightly criticized for not doing enough to eliminate industry fears of sanctions, said Brian O’Toole, a former senior adviser to the OFAC director, adding that the government should rethink restrictions surrounding humanitarian trade. And although OFAC issued a guidance (see 2004160039) encouraging banks to process humanitarian-related transactions involving Iran, banks continue to seek more assurances, lawyer Kerry Contini said.
The Treasury Department disputed a report that said South Korea obtained a “special license” to export humanitarian goods to Iran (see 2004170026), saying the country may be using an existing general license but did not receive an additional exemption. The Office of Foreign Assets Control “has not issued a ‘special license’ to the Koreans,” a Treasury spokesperson said. OFAC’s Iran sanctions regime contains “broad exemptions” for humanitarian exports, which may make some South Korean exports “permissible,” the spokesperson said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is suspending the general license authority for exports of “byproduct material” to Pakistan, the NRC said in a notice. Exporters are no longer authorized to ship those materials to Pakistan without a specific license, the commission said. The new restrictions are “necessary to enhance the common defense” and security of the U.S., the notice said. The suspension will “remain in effect until further notice.”
Despite calls from industry and lawmakers, the Treasury Department does not plan to introduce new authorizations for humanitarian exports to Iran, said Andrea Gacki, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Gacki said OFAC’s current general licenses are sufficient, adding that the agency has not received many license applications to export medical goods that are not already covered by an existing exemption.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued an April 16 guidance clarifying available humanitarian trade exemptions for U.S. sanctions regimes that target Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Ukraine/Russia. The guidance outlines the specific exemptions available for personal protective equipment and stresses that the U.S. will not target legitimate humanitarian trade to sanctioned countries. The guidance comes amid calls from current and former lawmakers and trade experts for more clarity surrounding OFAC humanitarian waivers (see 2004100044, 2004070028 and 2004010019), which has caused confusion among industry (see 2004140027).
Although the U.S. provides broad exemptions for humanitarian exports to Iran, the exemptions continue to be a source of confusion for industry, which is hindering humanitarian trade with Iran, said Katherine Bauer, a former senior policy adviser for Iran at the Treasury Department. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control may issue guidance to clarify the exemptions, Bauer said, but the Trump administration is unlikely to make any major changes to its Iranian sanctions regulations.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control updated a Venezuela-related general license and amended a Venezuela-related frequently asked question, OFAC said in an April 10 notice. General License No. 5C authorizes certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela involving an 8.5% bond on or after July 22, 2020. The FAQ clarifies which transactions are authorized by the license.
After current and former lawmakers asked the Treasury Department to clarify its stance on humanitarian exports to sanctioned countries, the agency pushed back on accusations that sanctions are stopping those exports, saying it does not target legitimate exported aid. Some of those accusations are marred by a misunderstanding of Treasury’s general licenses and exemptions, said sanctions lawyer Doug Jacobson: they do allow a broad range of humanitarian exports to countries like Iran.