The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two companies, in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, along with their vessels, for shipping Iranian goods on behalf of a financial facilitation network for the Houthi rebels.
A new U.S. executive order significantly raises Russia-related compliance risks for foreign banks that may have thought they weren’t subject to U.S. sanctions authorities, law firms said this month. The order also could lead to new risks for U.S. businesses, the firms said, which may need to conduct more due diligence on any foreign financial institutions with ties to their supply chains.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending the public comment period for an information collection involving import and end-use certificates, its delivery verification procedures and its firearms entry clearance requirements. The certificates are obtained by the foreign importer and transmitted to the U.S. exporter, BIS said, and the delivery verification certificate, which the agency requires as part of its export control program, must be completed by the ultimate consignee when the goods are delivered. BIS said the firearms entry clearance requirements are “necessary” due to the 2020 shift in export control jurisdiction of certain defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department (see 2001170030). BIS is allowing for another 30 days of comments from after the notice is published on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice this week. The new amounts include higher maximum penalties for violations of the Trading With the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and the Clean Diamond Trade Act. The agency also updated two references to “one-half the IEEPA maximum" penalty, which changed from $178,290 to $184,068. OFAC also adjusted the record-keeping penalty amounts in the agency's Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines. The changes take effect Jan. 12.
Republican Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, both members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced on Jan. 11 a bill that would impose economic sanctions on Nicaragua’s government for human rights violations, including the persecution of clergy and political dissidents and the forced exile of thousands of people.
The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing Jan. 11 to renew its push for congressional passage of the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, which would use sanctions and anti-money laundering measures to counter the illicit fentanyl supply chain that is blamed for tens of thousands of American deaths annually.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned one person, two entities and three aircraft with ties to Russia, according to a Jan. 11 update to its Specially Designated Nationals List. The designations target Vladimir Vladimirovich Mikheychik, Ashuluk Firing Range, and Vladimirovka Advanced Weapons and Research Complex. OFAC also sanctioned aircraft with tail numbers RF-78757, RF-82011 and RF-86898.
A nonprofit is asking the Treasury Department to sanction seven Chinese companies after its reporting revealed their alleged ties to forced labor in China’s seafood industry (see 2310100030). The Outlaw Ocean Project, a Washington-based investigative journalism non-profit, said it submitted a petition to Treasury calling for human rights sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against the seven companies and their affiliates, who are “complicit in serious human rights abuses” against Xinjiang workers.
Businesses and industry lawyers should expect to see an increase in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement this year, especially as DOJ more frequently uses data analytics to find possible violations, said Dan Kahn, the former chief of DOJ’s FCPA unit.
The Environmental Protection Agency is setting new significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 329 per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have not been imported, manufactured or processed for many years and are designated as inactive on the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory, it said in a final rule released Jan. 10. As a result of the SNURs, anyone planning to manufacture, import or process any of the chemical substances for an activity designated as a significant new use by this rule are required to notify EPA at least 90 days in advance. Importers of chemicals subject to these SNURs will need to certify their compliance with the SNUR requirements, and exporters of these chemical substances will now become subject to export notification requirements. The final rule takes effect March 11.