The Office of Foreign Assets Control on June 20 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, Venezuela’s state-owned energy company. General License 5S, which replaced GL 5R, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after Dec. 20. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after July 3.
Efforts to prevent sanctions evasion will grow “increasingly difficult” in the coming years, especially as evaders make better use of emerging technologies and find new loopholes in trade regulations, the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force warned countries and companies this month.
Negotiators from the Council of the European Union's presidency and the European Parliament struck a provisional deal June 18 to exempt most importers from the bloc's carbon border adjustment mechanism, the council announced.
The European Commission on June 16 unveiled a proposal to gradually stop the import of Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027. The commission said the proposal follows a plan adopted last month to fully phase out Russian gas imports (see 2505060027).
China on June 18 began issuing electronic “apostilles” for certificates of origin as part of a pilot program aimed at eliminating paper applications, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a regular press conference. The apostilles will certify the authenticity of certificates of origin issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and applications will “no longer need to go through any off-line procedures at consular authentication agencies,” the spokesperson said.
The Federal Maritime Commission is reorganizing some of its functions by "revising certain delegations of authority from the Commission, updating descriptions of organization components, and making minor related technical amendments," it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled to take effect June 20.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said June 18 that the Trump administration should have agreed at this week’s Group of Seven summit in Canada to lower the international price cap on Russian oil.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted June 18 to approve 10 Trump administration nominations, including Jacob Helberg as undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment and Andrew Puzder as U.S. ambassador to the EU.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., announced June 18 that he is reintroducing a bill that would require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to annually update its list of sensitive military, intelligence and national laboratory facilities. The Protect Our Bases Act is intended to ensure CFIUS reviews foreign land purchases near sensitive sites. The legislation, which Scott previously introduced in the last Congress, has 11 co-sponsors, all Republican.
A provision included in a cryptocurrency bill the Senate passed late June 17 would require stablecoin issuers to certify annually that they have implemented anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs.