The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s minister of Information and Communications Technology, Treasury said in a Nov. 22 press release. Azari Jahromi is in charge of a ministry that restricts the country’s internet use and blocked it for several days in November in the wake of anti-regime protests, Treasury said. The ministry also restricts “popular communication platforms,” Treasury said, and Azari Jahromi played a role in launching Iran’s National Information Network, which helps the government “monitor, restrict, and completely block internet usage.”
Geneva is growing increasingly frustrated with the United States’ approach to the looming deadline of the dissolution of the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement body, a former member of the body said. Although there are ways for the U.S. and WTO members to ensure the appellate body continues to operate, trade experts said they are skeptical much will get done before the Dec. 10 deadline, throwing the international rules-based trading system into question.
The U.S. and the European Union would recognize each other’s product testing across a variety of sectors including electronics, toys, machinery and measuring instruments, under a proposed agreement released by the EU on Nov. 22. “The EU proposal seeks an agreement, under which the EU and the U.S. would accept the conformity assessment results of each other’s assessment bodies, certifying products against the legal requirement of the other side. This would enable exporters to seek certification of their products in their originating country,” the European Commission said in a press release.
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 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America will use lobbying firm Whitmer & Worrall as Washington counsel, the association said in a Nov. 21 email. “Whitmer & Worrall is honored to support NCBFAA in representing the business of customs brokers, forwarders and OTI's, as transportation facilitators and logistics professionals," said Gabe Pellathy, partner at Whitmer & Worrall. "We look forward to achieving results for NCBFAA members through our collaboration including strategic planning, issues management and stakeholder engagement." Jon Kent, who previously lobbied for the NCBFAA, is retiring (see 1909030030).
Bradley Hayes, who was previously acting assistant commissioner for CBP’s Office of Congressional Affairs and executive director of CBP's Office of Trade Relations, recently joined the Office of Management and Budget, a CBP spokesperson said. Stephanie Talton, who was previously chief of staff in the Office of Trade, is now in the assistant commissioner role at the Office of Congressional Affairs, the spokesperson said.
In the Nov. 20-21 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Colombia announced unlimited duty-free treatment for imports of certain electric vehicles, and lowered import duties to 5 percent on certain motor vehicles fueled only by natural gas, according to a Nov. 21 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The changes take effect Nov. 28. In a separate decision, Colombia announced duty-free treatment for certain “household appliance inputs,” the report said. That change takes effect Dec. 3.
China and Israel made “positive progress” during its seventh round of trade negotiations this week, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a Nov. 21 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The two sides discussed issues surrounding rules of origin, customs procedures, trade facilitation, phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights and more.
The former CEO of a Brazilian petrochemical company was charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for his role in a money-laundering and bribery scheme, the Justice Department said Nov. 20. Jose Carlos Grubisich, the CEO of Braskem and an official of its parent company, Odebrecht, bribed Brazilian government officials and political parties in violation of the FCPA’s anti-bribery and books and records provision, the agency said.