EU Advocate General Laila Medina last week said that the "authentication by a notary of a contract of sale of immovable property owned by a legal person established in Russia" isn't covered by the EU's sanctions provisions on Russia, "as long as the engagement in transactions is allowed for that person under that regulation and the authentication is not supplemented by legal advice."
An investigation by the House Select Committee on China found that U.S. financial institutions facilitated the investment of $6.5 billion last year in 63 Chinese companies that the U.S. government has “blacklisted or otherwise red-flagged” for advancing China’s military capabilities or supporting its human rights abuses, the committee said April 18.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced late April 17 that she supports a newly modified House proposal that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless China’s ByteDance divested the popular social media application.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is “significantly reducing licensing requirements” for Australia and the U.K. “to foster defense trade and technological innovation” under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) Enhanced Trilateral Security Partnership, it said in an April 18 news release.
The U.S. announced on April 18 a new package of export controls and sanctions against Iran and its activities that support Russia’s war effort, in retaliation for Iran’s attack five days earlier on Israel.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent EU sanctions move under its restrictions regime to combat human rights abuses. Earlier this month, the Council of the EU introduced a humanitarian exemption to its sanctions regime. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision, the council announced.
Two officials of an Iraq-based weapons dealer -- Syrian national Mohamad Deiry and Lebanese national Samer Rayya -- were charged with conspiring to ship munitions from the U.S. to Sudan and Iraq without a license, DOJ announced. An indictment, unsealed April 15, alleged the pair violated the Arms Export Control Act and conspired to commit money laundering to advance the "illicit procurement activities."
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and three other House Republicans urged the State Department on April 17 to permanently stop waiving sanctions for certain types of nuclear cooperation with Iran.
The House of Representatives voted 410-13 on April 16 to approve a bill that would impose property-blocking and visa sanctions on people in Syria who produce and traffic the stimulant drug Captagon.
The Biden administration plans to let the Treasury Department’s general license for transactions with Venezuela’s state-owned energy company expire April 18 because the South American country has not fully met its democratic commitments, the State Department announced April 17.