The Trump administration's decision to end exemptions for Iranian oil sanctions will have a “more tangible impact on business” than many of the administration's previous sanctions designations against Iran, according to Johann Strauss, an international trade lawyer at Akin Gump. The move, announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on April 22, was aimed at choking off Iran’s oil exports and came about a week after the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced it was designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (see 1904220021).
The State Department issued an update to its Cuba Restricted List under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, adding five subentities: “Hotel Santa Isabel” (in Havana), “Hotel El Caney Varadero,” “Melia Marina Varadero Apartamentos” (each in Varadero), “Aerogaviota” (subentity of the Armed Forces Business Enterprises Group (GAESA)) and “Diving Center -- Marina Gaviota” (subentity of the Gaviota tourism group). This is the third update to the list since it was published in November 2017, State said. The second update was published March 9, 2019. This third update is scheduled to be published April 24.
Correction: A national security memorandum regarding U.S. policy on conventional arms transfers that mandated enhanced trade promotion and regulatory simplification was issued April 19, 2018 (see 1904220049).
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 15-19 in case they were missed.
A New Jersey defense contractor pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Department of Justice said in a news release. Oben Cabalceta owned two New Jersey companies, Owen's Fasteners Inc. and United Manufacturer LLC. Cabalceta admitted to defrauding the Department of Defense by "providing military equipment parts that were not what he had contracted to provide and illegally accessing technical information because he was not a United States citizen," the DOJ said.
The Trump administration's proposal to transfer firearms-related export controls from the State Department to Commerce would cause significant harm to global security and would loosen necessary controls over dangerous weapons, according to a panel organized by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif. Speaking at a House office building on April 23, gun-control experts and advocates attempted to debunk the administration's rationalization for transferring authority for gun export controls. Several pointed to the dangers of increased weapons exporting, saying the U.S. could become complicit in killings around the world. Others pointed to lapses in regulations if the changes take effect.
Skadden Arps partner Joseph Barloon will become general counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, after current general counsel Stephen Vaughn departs in a few weeks, USTR announced April 22.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:
Vietnam is adding more agricultural import procedures to its National Single Window, in pursuit of the country’s goal to complete its electronic filing system in 2019, according to a report from the General Department of Vietnam Customs’ mouthpiece CustomsNews. The newly available Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development functionalities include granting import permits for plant protection drugs, as well as import and export permits for plant genetic resources. The new additions bring the agriculture ministry up to 18 out of 35 of its procedures now available in the single window. A major initiative that remains to be completed is programming for quarantine and quality control for food, animal feed materials and aquatic products with animal and plant origins, the report said.