Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 29 -May 3 in case they were missed.
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network issued an update to its advisory on Venezuelan attempts to “steal, hide or launder money” in the wake of U.S.-imposed sanctions, FinCEN said in a May 3 press release. The 15-page advisory -- described as a guide for “chief risk officers,” chief compliance officers,” “sanctions analysts” and “legal departments,” among others -- provides an overview of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela and details the country’s attempts to avoid them. The guide also provides “financial red flags” to help companies report “suspicious activity that may be indicative of corruption by Venezuelan senior political figures.”
Regulations of U.S. export controls have recently become “more difficult to apply,” according to a study released May 6 by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The study, which focuses broadly on methods that Chinese companies use to transfer technology from the U.S., said regulators are facing more difficulty predicting which “early-stage technologies developed for commercial purposes” could be used for future military purposes. The study also briefly touched on the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, signed into law in 2018, which allows the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review transactions by foreign entities in the U.S. to determine their impact on national security. The study said FIRRMA leaves some methods of Chinese technology transfers “unaddressed,” including “investments in U.S. critical technologies based outside” the U.S.
In the May 3 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Nations Security Council added Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi, a Pakistan native, to its ISIL and Al-Qaida sanctions list, the U.N. said in a May 1 press release. U.N. said Alvi is the founder of terrorist group Jaish-i-Mohammed and the former leader of Harakat ul-Mujahidin. The sanctions include an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, the U.N. said.
The U.S. is renewing five of seven Iran-related sanctions waivers that allow Russia and European countries to “conduct civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran,” according to a May 3 report from the Associated Press. The waivers were extended by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for 90 days to allow work at “several Iranian nuclear sites to continue without U.S. penalties,” the AP reported.
A former consultant for the Arms Trade Treaty said President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the pact may "haunt" the U.S. for years and could place U.S. exporters’ supply chains at risk. Rachel Stohl -- in a May 3 commentary on WarOnTheRocks.com, a national security website -- wrote that while U.S. exporters still will be subject to “strict U.S. export control laws,” exporters “could see their supply chains or access to customers put at risk if a trading partner puts limits" on countries not party to the treaty.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control’s recent publication of a sanctions compliance guide is the latest example of OFAC’s long-term effort to show companies what makes an effective compliance program, trade lawyers said. But the effort may also ultimately benefit the Treasury, according to one lawyer, by making it easier for the department to successfully prosecute compliance cases.
Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., introduced a bill on April 30 that would lift the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba and impose export controls on trades with the island. The bill, "United States-Cuba Relations Normalization Act," said the U.S. can “best support democratic change and human rights” in Cuba by, among other conditions, “promoting trade and commerce.” The bill said normal trade relations would help Cuba’s economy transform into a free market and “assist Cuba in adopting regional and world trading rules and principles." If passed, the bill would authorize “new restrictions” on Cuban trade, including export controls under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018. The embargo would lift 60 days after the bill is enacted. The bill was introduced the same day President Donald Trump threatened Cuba with the “highest-level sanctions” and a “complete embargo” if it does not stop military operations in Venezuela (see 1904300228).
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., is asking for co-sponsors on a bill that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, just one day after reports surfaced that the White House is also pursuing sanctions against the group. In a May 1 letter, Diaz-Balart said that while the U.S. has designated individual members and branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, it has not yet sanctioned it “as a whole.” He said the foreign terrorist designation would impose “tough sanctions on a dangerous organization with longstanding ties to violent, extremist groups.” Diaz-Balart introduced similar legislation in recent years. The White House has asked national security officials to “find a way” to sanction the group, according to an April 30 report in The New York Times. The White House’s request came after Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi visited Washington on April 9 and “urged” President Donald Trump to join his country in sanctioning the organization, the report said.