The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit released its latest set of export licensing statistics, covering April 1 to June 30. The data includes licensing decisions, processing times, license registrations and suspensions, and more. During that time period, the agency said, it made 2,716 licensing decisions for standard individual export licenses, down 5% from the previous quarter. Of those standard licenses, 96% were granted, 4% were refused, and none were revoked. The U.K. also said 53% of those applications were closed in the U.K.'s licensing system within 20 working days, up from 48% in the previous quarter.
The EU is hoping to complete its new economic security doctrine next month to outline how the bloc should be using its export control powers and other similar trade tools, said Maros Sefcovic, the EU commissioner for trade and economic security.
Congress will move toward a vote on a bill that gives the president the authority to hike tariffs on goods from countries that buy Russian energy, and directs him to prohibit banking transactions and foreign exchange transactions for Russian companies doing business with companies or banks in other countries.
Nature’s Sunshine Products, a dietary supplement manufacturer headquartered in Utah, said it recently submitted final voluntary disclosures related to possible violations of U.S. sanctions and export controls.
U.S. and multilateral sanctions and export controls imposed on Russia, Iran and North Korea have had only a limited effect due to China’s role in helping those countries evade the restrictions, the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a report released Nov. 14.
The EU needs to overhaul its approach to export controls so it can better respond to rising extraterritorial restrictions by the U.S. and China, a European Parliament member told a conference of EU and U.S. government and industry officials last week.
The European Commission on Nov. 14 officially published its updated dual-use export control regulation in the EU Journal. The updated controls, announced in September, aim to align the bloc with export control decisions made both within multilateral export control regimes and by nations outside those regimes (see 2509090009). The new updates include controls related to quantum technology, certain semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment and materials, and more.
House Select Committee on China ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., asked the Trump administration Nov. 12 to explain how it plans to respond to China’s reported transfer of ballistic missile fuel ingredients to Iran in apparent violation of recently reimposed UN sanctions (see 2509290051). In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, the lawmakers said the sanctions bar support for Iran’s ballistic missile program. The State Department declined to comment.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued four new or amended Russia-related general licenses Nov. 14. General License 124B, which replaces 124A, authorizes petroleum services and other transactions related to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Tengizchevroil and Karachaganak projects. General License 128A, which replaces 128, authorizes certain transactions involving Lukoil retail service stations located outside Russia. General License 130 authorizes transactions involving certain Lukoil entities in Bulgaria, and General License 131 authorizes certain transactions for the negotiation of and entry into contingent contracts for the sale of Lukoil International GmbH and related maintenance activities.
The Trump administration has given Hungary a one-year exemption from sanctions that it recently imposed on two major Russian energy companies, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late Nov. 12.