During a House hearing on China’s influence in Europe, several experts said the U.S. needs to more strongly cooperate with Europe against Chinese trading practices and economic influences, including on export controls and information sharing.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry updated its “end-user list” to provide exporters information on “foreign entities” that may be involved in weapons proliferation. The update last month added five entities to the list “for which concern cannot be eliminated regarding involvement” in weapons of mass destruction, the ministry said in a notice. Exporters must submit applications for goods that may be used for the development of weapons of mass destruction “even if they are not subject to export restrictions under international agreements,” the notice said.
The U.S. seized a North Korean cargo ship for violating U.S. and international sanctions after it transported coal and “heavy machinery” and used U.S. banks for various transactions, the Department of Justice said in a May 9 press release.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control removed sanctions on a former Venezuelan government official after he “broke ranks” with the Nicolas Maduro regime last week, OFAC said in a May 7 notice. OFAC said Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the director general of Venezuela’s National Intelligence Service, was sanctioned in February as a member of the Venezuelan government. All of Cristopher’s property is now unblocked and transactions with him are allowed, the notice said.
Iran is suspending some of its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that involve selling enriched uranium in exchange for natural uranium and making “heavy water reserves” available on the open market, according to a May 8 press release from the Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If the “E3, Russia and China” do not “fulfill their banking and oil commitments to Iran” within 60 days, the country may “not respect the current limits on uranium enrichment and may take measures to modernise the Arak heavy water reactor,” according to a May 8 post on the EU Sanctions blog.
The Trump administration on May 8 announced an executive order placing sanctions on Iran’s iron, steel, aluminum and copper sectors in what it said are the country’s “largest non-petroleum-related sources of export revenue."
The United Kingdom on May 3 published guidance on several sanctions regimes, including the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions, the Democratic Republic of Congo sanctions, the Counter-Terrorism sanctions and the Zimbabwe sanctions. The guidance documents describe practices for sanctions compliance, including in financial- and trade-related sectors, and detail exceptions for the sanctions regimes. Licenses for trade exceptions may only be issued under the Zimbabwe sanctions and the Congo sanctions, according to the documents. Violating any of the sanctions in the financial sector can lead to a six-month prison sentence and a fine, while sanctions violations in the trade sector can lead to a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a fine.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, speaking May 7 in New Delhi, chided India for its high tariffs and non-tariff barriers, blaming them for the trade deficit with the U.S. He did not acknowledge the termination of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits for India. Although the administration warned India could be terminated from the GSP program as of May 4, so far, that has not happened. However, Ross did tell a local TV station, according to Reuters, that retaliation for the end of GSP would be inappropriate.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control left out several key components of an effective compliance program in its recent sanctions compliance guide, according to a May 6 report from law firm Paul Hastings. The report said the guide should have included descriptions and instructions for “a confidential reporting process,” an "investigations process,” “disciplinary measures for employees which fail to follow the program” and “an emphasis” on mid-level employees stressing the importance of compliance instead of just senior management. The report said these components “appear in guidance documents in other areas” and "it is not clear why OFAC chose to omit these nuances … but no doubt practitioners will seek further clarification from OFAC in the weeks and months to come.” The guide, published May 6, represented an escalating step in OFAC’s effort to disseminate information about effective compliance programs, potentially allowing the agency to more successfully prosecute compliance cases (see 1905030055). The guide provides details of compliance programs that are “now all but mandatory in OFAC’s opinion,” the report said.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls' Defense Export Control and Compliance System (DECCS) Commodity Jurisdiction application is live, the State Department said in a May 6 notice. The new system allows users to save commodity jurisdiction applications as drafts and return to them later. Users can also now download a PDF version of the submitted form for record keeping, State said. Commodity jurisdiction determinations allow users to determine whether a product or service is covered by the U.S. Munitions List and subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations export controls, State said. All “DTrade Super Users with valid email addresses” were automatically enrolled in DECCS, the notice said.