European countries still have "very different" levels of research security practices in place to protect against threats from China and other adversarial nations, University of Manchester researchers said in a new report. While some countries have "mature research security policies and practices," others are at an earlier stage, while "no country can be said to have institutionalised research security practices across its whole research system."
EU member states, along with the bloc's Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, met in Lithuania last week to discuss ways to strengthen export enforcement of dual-use goods sent to Russia, Lithuania's customs office said. The countries said they want to better "identify organized criminal groups and prevent illegal profit-making," and they also discussed ways to more "promptly" share information about how bad actors are evading sanctions, the notice said, according to an unofficial translation. They specifically examined sanctions evasion methods in the Baltic Sea region. The meeting featured customs and law enforcement representatives from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
The U.S. should be prepared to reimpose sanctions on Syria if the country’s new government does not head in the right direction, a researcher told a congressional panel June 5.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned more than 40 people and entities tied to Iranian brothers Mansour, Nasser and Fazlolah Zarringhalam, who have laundered billions of dollars’ worth of funds through the international financial system for Iran's “shadow banking” network, the Treasury Department said. The designations target front companies in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong along with "affiliated businessmen" and others who have ties to sales of Iranian energy.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has completed a round of interagency review for two export-control-related notices that could outline general authorizations for certain controlled exports. One notice is titled “GENERAL AUTHORIZATION NO. 1 Limited Use Cases,” and the other is “GENERAL AUTHORIZATION NO. 2 Temporary Importation.” BIS sent both notices to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on May 19, and the reviews were completed June 5. A BIS spokesperson didn't respond to a request for more information.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's recently issued advanced chip guidance appears to raise compliance expectations for industry, especially for banks and forwarders that may be indirectly or inadvertently violating export controls on China, lawyers said.
The EU is aiming to build on its export controls, investment screening measures and other economic security tools over advanced technologies, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said this week.
China defended itself again this week against accusations from the EU, the U.S. and others that Beijing is withholding exports of critical minerals and other rare earths (see 2505300002), saying it has a right to impose export controls on those items.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill June 5 that would require the executive branch to develop a strategy to counter deepening cooperation among U.S. "adversaries" in such areas as sanctions evasion and the sharing of restricted dual-use technology (see 2505290076).
President Donald Trump got the phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping he'd been seeking, and Trump wrote on social media that "there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products."