The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued an advisory on Iran’s “deceptive practices” in the civil aviation industry, detailing Iran’s use of commercial airlines for terrorism, weapons programs and sanctions violations. The eight-page advisory, issued July 23, lists several practices U.S. companies should be aware of to avoid violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. The advisory also reviews the U.S.’s current Iran sanctions regime as well as penalties for committing violations.
The Commerce Department is planning to issue multiple guidance documents on its blacklisting of Huawei Technologies due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters, Commerce officials said during the Bureau of Industry and Security's annual export controls conference July 9-11 in Washington. Officials said the guidance will address the most common questions BIS has received from U.S. industries.
The Commerce Department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei in order to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, Commerce undersecretary for the industry and security.
The Commerce Department will approve more temporary licenses to U.S. exporters selling “general merchandise” to Huawei, U.S. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on CBS and Fox News on June 30, potentially providing relief to both U.S. firms and China’s telecommunications tech giant. Although specific details have not yet been released, Commerce plans to grant export licenses for products that China can easily get from other countries, including “various chips and software,” Kudlow said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended a Venezuela-related General License and extended the expiration date of two Ukraine-related General Licenses, OFAC said in a June 26 notice. OFAC is amending Venezuela-related General License 13A to extend its expiration date to Oct. 25, 2019, the notice said. Both Ukraine-related General Licenses No. 13L and No. 15F are extended until Nov. 8, 2019, OFAC said. General License No. 15F also includes a new authorization “for certain safety-related activity,” the notice said.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., urged President Donald Trump's administration on June 13 not to use U.S. restrictions on Huawei as a “bargaining chip in trade negotiations” with China. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security issued a notice adding Huawei and affiliates to a list of entities subject to export administration regulations beginning May 16 (see 1905160072). BIS issued a general license temporarily allowing certain transactions by Huawei and the affected affiliates through Aug. 19. Trump later said sanctions against Huawei could be part of trade negotiations with China.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended three Venezuela-related general licenses and issued frequently asked questions for guidance, OFAC said in a June 6 notice. OFAC amended General License 7A, which authorizes certain transactions related to PDV Holding, Inc. and CITGO Holding, Inc; General License 8, which authorizes certain transactions involving Petroleos de Venezuela for entities operating in Venezuela; and General License 13, which authorizes certain transactions involving Nynas AB. The addition to OFAC’s FAQs concerns the export and re-export of “diluents” to Venezuela. Diluents such as crude oil and naphtha "play a key role in the transportation and exportation of Venezuelan petroleum," which is a major revenue source for the regime of Nicolas Maduro, which the U.S. seeks to suppress.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade amended three general licenses related to “maritime anti-piracy,” military goods and Iraq, the department said in a June 4 press release. The first change amends Schedule 1 of the maritime and anti-piracy license “to reflect the change of control entry for non-military shotguns.” The second change amends the general export license for military goods “to allow goods to be moved directly from one exhibition to another” instead of requiring “goods to be returned directly to their origin after a single exhibition event.” The third change amends the general export license for Iraq “to correct a reference to the category of goods to which it applies.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 28-31 in case they were missed.
The temporary general license issued by the U.S. after it added Huawei Technologies to its Entity List has offered “almost no relief” for the U.S. semiconductor industry, which has been hurt severely by the move, said John Neuffer, president and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association. Speaking on U.S.-China trade issues at a Washington International Trade Association discussion on May 29, Neuffer underscored the importance of the Chinese market to U.S. semiconductor exporters and called on the Trump administration to more tactfully negotiate with China. “We would like the U.S. government to better balance its national security concerns with its economic security concerns,” Neuffer said.