The U.S. this week issued its first set of Sudan sanctions since a May executive order expanded U.S. sanctions authority against the country (see 2305040037), designating four companies, including its largest defense firm, earning revenue or contributing to Sudan’s ongoing military conflict. The designations, announced June 1 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, include four new general licenses to authorize certain essential transactions, including for humanitarian aid.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week officially updated its two open general licenses to extend their validity for three years and make other “non-substantive edits” to the text of the licenses. The edits clarify that multiple defense articles “need not be reexported or retransferred simultaneously” and the open general licenses can be used to reexport or retransfer a single defense article, the May 31 notice said. The agency announced the three-year extension for the open general license pilot program in March, which will continue to authorize reexports and retransfers of certain defense items and services to Australia, Canada and the U.K. (see 2303280034 and 2207190008).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new Russia-related general license this week that authorizes certain transactions involving Hungary-based International Investment Bank, which was sanctioned in April for being a Russia-controlled financial institution (see 2304120039). New GL 69 authorizes certain transactions “necessary to the processing of interest or principal payments on debt securities issued” by the bank before April 12, 2023. Those transactions are authorized through 12:01 a.m. EDT on June 30 as long as the interest or principal payments are not made to people located in Russia and that any payments to a sanctioned person are made into a blocked account in accordance with the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations. Certain other conditions apply.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls recently updated its fact sheet and guidance for its open general license pilot program that was announced last year (see 2207200005) and extended in March (see 2303280034). Updated frequently asked questions clarify that the licenses allow for “demilitarization of defense articles,” specify that the licenses can’t be used to reexport or retransfer items subject to Commerce Department export controls and outline how long the pilot program is slated to last.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published previously issued General License 8G under its Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations. The full text of the license is available in the notice.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published four previously issued general licenses under its Cyber-Related, Non-Proliferation, and Hostages and Wrongfully Detained U.S. Nationals sanctions programs. The full text of each license is available in the notice.
The U.K. this week issued a general license under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes authorizing certain funds transfers to a U.K. individual or entity for the purposes of satisfying a contractual obligation. The license, which runs until Nov. 21, features certain conditions, including that the payment must be for the benefit of a U.K. party and the total value of the funds cannot exceed about $248,561. The license also includes a reporting requirement.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control again renewed a general license authorizing certain transactions between certain companies and Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., Venezuela’s state-run energy company. General License No. 8L, which replaces No. 8K (see 2211280042), authorizes transactions between PdVSA and Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Weatherford International, with certain restrictions, through 12:01 a.m. EST Nov. 19. The license was scheduled to expire May 26.
Concern is “growing” within the U.S., Australia and the U.K. that “indiscriminate and extraterritorial application” of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations will hurt the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership and “slow-roll cooperation on existing technology transfer,” the Sydney-based U.S. Studies Centre said in a report released this month. The report warned that “another failure” to reform the ITAR could “carry significant consequences for the three countries’ shared defence technology advantages vis-a-vis China and, therefore, their ability to deter regional conflict.”
The U.S. announced a host of new Russia-related sanctions and export controls last week, including more than 300 sanctions designations by the Treasury and State departments and an expansion of Commerce Department export controls on items destined to Russia and entities supporting the country’s military. The measures, some of which were coordinated with allies as part of the Group of 7 summit in Japan, aim to “further undermine Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal aggression” in Ukraine, the G-7 countries said in a May 19 joint statement.