Chubb Limited, a Swiss holding company, was fined about $65,000 for more than 20,000 violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in an enforcement notice. The violations were the responsibility of ACE Limited -- an insurance and reinsurance service provider with locations in Switzerland, U.S. and Britain -- which merged with Chubb Corp. in 2016 to form Chubb Limited.
The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade issued new and amended open general export licenses and open general trade control licenses to stop new registrations for certain licenses to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, according to a Dec. 5 notice. The DIT is also no longer approving export licenses to Turkey for goods that may have military uses in Syria, the notice said. The changes are in effect “until further notice.”
Huawei is urging suppliers to move operations offshore to avoid U.S. sanctions and export controls, which would violate U.S. law, according to a Dec. 3 Reuters report. The Chinese technology giant has been “openly advocating” for companies to escape the jurisdiction of U.S. controls so sales can continue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Reuters. “Anybody who does move the product out specifically to avoid the sanction ... that’s a violation of U.S. law,” Ross said. “So here you have Huawei encouraging American suppliers to violate the law.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 25-29 in case you missed them.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued guidance on the definition of “maintenance” used in General License K, which allows certain transactions with COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co. The guidance was released along with two new Frequently Asked Questions and two updated FAQs, according to a Nov. 27 notice.
The Department of Commerce published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agenda includes a new mention of its intent to potentially control certain additive manufacturing equipment, or 3D printing, used in “energetic materials” as part of BIS’s effort to restrict sales of emerging technologies (see 1911210051). The notice of proposed rulemaking aims to gather feedback from industries while “discussions are ongoing” at the Wassenaar Arrangement. BIS said it aims to issue the proposed rule in November.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is amending the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations by adding recent Venezuela-related executive orders, a recent general license and an “interpretive provision,” OFAC said in a Nov. 22 notice. OFAC is adding a general license “previously posted only on OFAC’s website” that authorizes certain U.S. government activities in Venezuela. The interpretive provision, which involves settlement agreements and enforcements of liens, judgments or “other orders through” the “judicial process,” clarified that the “entry into a settlement agreement … is prohibited unless authorized pursuant to a specific license issued by OFAC.”
The Commerce Department’s decision to renew the temporary general license for Huawei “won't have a substantial impact on Huawei's business either way,” the company said in a Nov. 19 statement. Huawei said the 90-day reprieve (see 1911180036), which authorizes a narrow set of transactions with the U.S. despite Huawei’s placement on the Entity List, “does not change the fact that Huawei continues to be treated unfairly.”
The Commerce Department renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and 114 of its non-U.S. affiliates until Feb. 16, Commerce announced Nov. 18. The renewal -- the license’s second extension (see 1908190039) since it was issued in May -- authorizes certain specific activities and transactions, including those related to existing network operations of mobile services, despite Huawei's addition to the Entity List.
The Commerce Department renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and 114 of its non-U.S. affiliates until Feb. 16. The renewal is effective immediately and is the license’s second extension since it was issued in May. The license authorizes certain specific activities and transactions, including those related to existing network operations of mobile services, despite Huawei's addition to the Entity List.