The State Department last week released its annual report to Congress of authorized exports of defense goods and services to foreign countries and international organizations during FY 2024. The report covers direct commercial sales of licensed items for permanent export under the Arms Export Control Act and includes export statistics for each country and organization, including aggregate dollar values of the exports, their quantities and data on the actual shipments of those licensed exports.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The notifications, which cover licenses submitted from April through June and July through September of 2024, include exports to Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, Finland, Israel, Canada, Ukraine, Norway, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere.
Several speakers at a Capitol Hill event hosted by the Burma Research Institute April 28 called for sanctioning Myanmar’s military junta for human rights violations against civilians.
The U.K. issued a new version of a Russia-related legal services general license to reset the cap on fees that can be paid to British law firms by parties subject to Russia-related sanctions. The legal fees cap is set at about $2.68 million (or 2 million pounds) per law firm and the expenses cap at 10% of the legal fees, up to about $268,000 (or 200,000 pounds), for the duration of the license. The license takes effect April 29 and expires Oct. 28. The previous license expired April 28 (see 2410290017).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three vessels and their owners for supporting the Yemen-based Houthis and the group's attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, including by supplying them with oil shipments.
Japanese lawmakers this week urged the Trump administration to continue engaging with allies on economic security issues and to not close off America from Japanese investment, saying Japanese companies will help grow American exports and reduce the U.S. trade deficit.
The Council of the European Union on April 25 extended its sanctions on Myanmar for one year, pushing them to April 30, 2026. The restrictions currently apply to 106 individuals and 22 entries and include an asset freeze, arms embargo and restriction on the export of dual-use goods and equipment for monitoring communication that may be used for internal repression.
A new executive order aimed at reducing regulatory restrictions around weapons sales could speed up exports to allies and remove other trade barriers, law firms said, although key questions remain about how U.S. agencies will implement it.
The U.K. extended the general sanctions license permitting insolvency-related payments and activities involving GTLK Europe and GTLK Capital until July 31, 2030. The license specifically permits any individual or corporation to "make, receive or process any payments, or take any other action, in connection with any Insolvency Proceedings, whether prior to or after the commencement of such proceedings." The license had been slated to expire July 31, 2025.
The U.K. dropped 12 entities from its Syria sanctions regime on April 24, including major government ministries and media outlets, according to a notice from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. Those entities are the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, General Intelligence Directorate, Air Force Intelligence Agency, Political Security Directorate, Syrian National Security Bureau, Military Intelligence Directorate, Army Supply Bureau, General Organisation of Radio and TV, Al Watan, Cham Press TV and Sama TV.