The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a global audio electronics company $1,454,145 for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions, accusing its employees of shipping goods to a United Arab Emirates distributor that they knew would then sell the items in Iran.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, urged China to lift its export curbs on rare earths and asked it to stop allowing its companies to support Russia’s military industrial base.

Beijing is barring European companies from selling medical devices to the Chinese government in retaliation for a similar measure announced by the European Commission last month (see 2506200015).

Beijing is following through on a trade agreement recently reached with Washington by approving license applications for certain exports to the U.S., a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said July 4 in response to a reporter's question at a press conference, without providing specific details.

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-N.C., introduced a bill July 2 that would require the State Department to develop a strategy to address instability in Haiti, including by assessing the impact of sanctions on the country.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., introduced a bill July 2 that would require a review of whether individuals or entities included on certain sanctions list should be included on other sanctions lists. The legislation was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees. Fine’s office didn't respond to a request for more information about the bill.

The State Department has revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the agency said in a Federal Register notice this week. The move, effective July 8, is in line with President Donald Trump’s mandate to deliver sanctions relief to Syria, the State Department said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week revised and extended a Venezuela-related license that authorizes certain transactions related to liquefied petroleum gas. General License 40D, which replaces 40C, authorizes certain transactions that are "ordinarily incident and necessary to the delivery and offloading" of liquefied petroleum gas in Venezuela involving the government, state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela or any entity owned 50% or more by PdVSA. Those transactions are authorized through 12:01 a.m. ET Sept. 5 as long as the liquefied petroleum gas was loaded on a vessel on or before July 7.

A California-based digital interface design company said in its initial public offering this month that it may have violated U.S. sanctions.

Companies should expect the Bureau of Industry and Security to continue a steady pace of penalties against export violators, particularly for cases involving semiconductors and other advanced technologies, said Gregory Dunlap, the former special agent in charge of the agency’s Los Angeles field office. And if Congress grants the agency’s request for more funding, Dunlap said, BIS could soon have the resources to more quickly carry out investigations and probe a greater number of exporters.