The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 16 people and one entity connected to Myanmar’s military, which is committing human rights violations after overthrowing the country’s government earlier this year, the agency said May 17. The designations target 13 “key members” of the Myanmar military, three adult children of previously designated military officials and the State Administration Council (SAC), which was created by the military to support its overthrow of the government.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended its Narcotics Trafficking Sanctions Regulations and the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations to add and revise general licenses, prohibitions, definitions and technical changes, the agency said in a notice released May 14. The final rule, effective May 17, will revise several general licenses related to payments for “legal services,” certain transactions for “maintenance of blocked tangible property” and emergency medical services, which will be subject to new recordkeeping requirements. The agency also revised definitions for “foreign person” and “specially designated narcotics trafficker,” updated certain “regulatory provisions” in the sanctions language, and made other conforming changes.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed designations from three people and one entity earlier this week (see 2105110030) after the agency determined that “circumstances no longer warrant” their inclusion on sanctions lists, a May 13 notice said. The agency removed sanctions from Syrian military official and Brig. Gen. Jami Jami, Netherlands-based entity Staroil B.V. and two other people: Alexander Hollebrand and Paul Van Mazijk. The people and entities were previously listed under OFAC’s Syria sanctions regime.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned seven people and two entities for drug trafficking, the agency said May 12. The sanctions target Jesus Gonzalez Penuelas and Gonzalez Penuelas Drug Trafficking Organization (Gonzalez Penuelas DTO), which is “among the largest sources of raw opium gum and heroin” in northern Mexico. OFAC also sanctioned six people and one entity for their ties to Gonzalez Penuelas DTO: Ignacio and Wilfrido Gonzalez Penuelas, Efrain Mendivil Figueroa, Adelmo Nunez Molina, and Raul and Juana Payan Meraz, and construction company City Plaza, Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on May 11 designated seven people connected to Hezbollah and its financial firm Al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH). The sanctions target Ibrahim Ali Daher, the chief of Hezbollah’s Central Finance Unit, and AQAH officials Ahmad Mohamad Yazbeck, Abbas Hassan Gharib, Wahid Mahmud Subayti, Mostafa Habib Harb, Ezzat Youssef Akar and Hasan Chehadeh Othman.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for May 3-7 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction for Chinese big data processing technology company Luokung Technology Corp., temporarily blocking the company's designation as a Chinese military company. Judge Rudolph Contreras issued the injunction in a May 5 ruling, finding it likely Luokung would prevail in its case against the designation. The publicly traded Chinese tech giant claims that the Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC) designation issued by the Department of Defense was made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, was arbitrary and capricious, and that the evidence in hand was not substantial enough to support a finding of state control over the company.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for April 26-30 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Forwarders are seeing a rise in maximum penalties issued by CBP for violations surrounding ocean shipments that occurred over a year ago, National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America officials said. Joe Brogan, the chair of NCBFAA’s export compliance subcommittee, said CBP officers are increasingly digging up old violations where forwarders submitted incorrect transportation-related information, such as the date of export or the port of export, and have levied penalties higher than $14,000 for a “single occurrence.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control moved its Non-Specially Designated Nationals Communist Chinese Military Companies (NS-CCMC) List from a temporary PDF to a “standard OFAC list file format,” the agency said April 30. The list data will now be included in the agency’s “Non-SDN Consolidated Data Files” for machine processing, and “human-readable versions” will be available on a dedicated landing page. OFAC stressed that the change is “only an administrative, technical action.”