Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.K. will remove the licensing consideration relating to the provision of professional and business services from U.K. parent companies and their U.K. subsidiaries to their Russian subsidiaries, the Export Control Joint Unit announced on Sept. 30. Starting Oct. 31, the provision of intra-corporate services will no longer stand as a licensing consideration "that is likely to be consistent with the aims of the sanctions regime." The agency said companies looking to provide intra-corporate services to their Russian subsidiaries must "explicitly demonstrate how the provision of any ongoing services aligns with the overarching purposes of the sanctions."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed Swiss national Inga Rettich from its Specially Designated Nationals List, who it originally sanctioned in 2022 for ties to Russian businessman and investor Murat Magomedovich Aliev. OFAC also deleted the vessel Flying Fox, a Cayman Islands-flagged yacht that it sanctioned in 2022 for being owned by Imperial Yachts SARL, a yacht brokerage for Russian elites. The agency didn’t release more information.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted Prominvestbank, a former Ukrainian bank, from its Specially Designated Nationals List. It was forcibly liquidated by the National Bank of Ukraine after Russia took control of the bank following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The bank remains on OFAC's Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List, which includes people and entities that the agency said are operating in certain significant sectors of the Russian economy. OFAC didn’t release more information.
A senior U.S. Treasury Department official said the agency has made progress in addressing criticism that its sanctions are ineffective and difficult to comply with, pointing to recent guidance issued by Treasury and the increase in U.S. sanctions coordinated with close U.S. allies.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has reviewed more than 1,250 suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted to the government as part of an effort with the Treasury Department to collect more tips from industry about possible Russia-related sanctions or export control violations, said Matthew Axelrod, the top BIS export enforcement official.
The U.K. fined property management company Integral Concierge Services Limited 15,000 British pounds, or about $20,000, for helping a client designated under the U.K.’s Russia sanctions regime manage a residential property. The company was accused of being “unaware” of its sanctions compliance obligations and making “no attempt to educate itself on its legal obligations” after its client was sanctioned.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Sept. 24 suspended the export privileges of 11 people after they were convicted of export-related offenses, including illegal shipments involving oil to China, industrial equipment to Russia and the smuggling of guns and ammunition. The suspensions took effect from the date of their convictions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Russian national Sergey Ivanov and virtual currency exchange Cryptex, which is operated by Ivanov. The move was announced concurrently with enforcement action from various U.S. and international enforcement agencies, including an indictment unsealed against Ivanov and fellow Russian national Timur Shakhmametov.
The U.K. added two entities to the Russia sanctions regime on Sept. 26. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation sanctioned Ocean Speedstar Solutions OPC Pvt Ltd and White Fox Ship Management FZCO for operating in the Russian energy sector, a "sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia."