The European Union maintained some sanctions and lifted certain sanctions from officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the EU Council said Dec. 9. The move includes lifting sanctions on two people on the DRC sanctions list: Roger Kibelisa and Lambert Mende, according to a Dec. 9 post on the European Sanctions blog.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 18 people and six entities under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for human rights violations, Treasury said in a Dec. 10 press release. The people are located in Burma, Pakistan, Libya, Slovakia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, and the six entities are all located in Slovakia.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 2-6 in case you missed them.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's upcoming set of proposed rules on emerging technologies may not be published until early next year, another sign of the delay that has plagued the rules since Commerce first announced them more than a year ago. Commerce has three emerging technology rule proposals in “various stages of clearance,” Hillary Hess, director of the BIS Regulatory Policy Division, said during a Dec. 10 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. The agency hopes to publish one proposal before the end of the year, Hess said, but urged committee members to take any prediction with “at least a handful of salt.”

The Commerce Department is considering a host of expanded restrictions on foreign shipments to Huawei containing U.S. technology, said Rich Ashooh, Commerce’s assistant secretary for export administration. The agency is discussing expanding the Direct Product Rule -- which subjects certain foreign-made products containing U.S. technology to U.S. regulations -- and a broadened de minimis rule, Ashooh said during a Dec. 10 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Ashooh’s comments confirmed details in a Nov. 29 Reuters report that said the U.S. was discussing ways to restrict more foreign exports to Huawei (see 1912040014).

In the Dec. 6-9 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, traders in the Netherlands will be able to apply for more types of authorizations only available in the Netherlands through the European Union Trader Portal, the Dutch Belastingdienst said in a Dec. 5 release. In addition to applications for single authorizations, which were deployed this year in the portal, traders will beginning Jan. 1 be able to use the portal to apply for inward processing (IPO), outward processing (OPO), end use (EUS) and temporary admission (TEA) authorizations, the release said. “In the coming year, more and more authorisations will become available in the EU Trader Portal,” it said.

The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued guidance Dec. 6 on best practices for internal compliance programs involving strategic goods, technologies and sanctions. The 16-page guidance, produced in collaboration with the country’s Central Office for Import and Export, sets out responsibilities for businesses and exporters involved in the strategic technology sector. It contains practices for export screening procedures, verifying end-users and end uses, and performing audits and training. The guidance also contains European Union regulations on exporting controlled technology, including those related to cyber surveillance, human rights abuses, and “torture goods.”

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade on Dec. 5 issued updated guidance on 19 open general export licenses. The guidance documents cover OGELs for chemicals, software and technology for military goods for individual use, dual-use items for oil and gas exploration, military surplus vehicles, goods for deployed U.K. forces, military goods for demonstration, historic military goods, military goods exported for repair or replacement under warranty, information security items, low value shipments, military goods exported for exhibition, dual-use goods exported for repair or replacement under warranty, category C goods, cryptographic development, dual-use goods exported after repair or replacement under warranty, technology for dual use items, small arms and light weapons, PCBs and components for dual use items, and OGEL X.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Dec. 4 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):