The Bureau of Industry and Security will amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) Dec. 23 to add the new military end-user list (see 2012210047), consisting of 103 entities subject to export licensing requirements, the agency said in a Dec. 22 notice. Licenses will be required to export, reexport or transfer certain items described in the EAR that are subject to military end-use (MEU) or end-user licensing requirements. A BIS spokesperson said the 102 cited in the notice is a typo.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on the evening of Dec. 21 that he hopes the closure of the U.K.-France border to truck cargo can be resolved in the “next few hours,” according to a report from Reuters. But as of press time, the border was still shut, after French President Emmanuel Macron closed it at 11 p.m. London time on Dec. 20 to help prevent the spread of a new, potentially more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 that recently was discovered in the U.K. In a statement on Dec. 21, Johnson said the delays only affect human-handled freight at the port at Dover, which is “only 20 per cent of the total arriving from or departing to the European continent.”

The European Council approved the European Commission’s Customs Action Plan, saying it will make European Union customs operations “smarter, more innovative and more efficient,” a Dec. 21 news release said. The plan, announced in September, includes new measures to support the EU Customs Union, tackle smuggling and combat customs duty fraud, and features a rollout of modern customs equipment and an EU-wide single customs portal (see 2009280023). Although the EC “welcomes” the commission’s plan, it added that “complex challenges in the customs area are best tackled” through cooperation, urging the commission to respect the “competences and the responsibilities of the EU institutions and the member states.” The council agreed that the EU should improve cooperation between customs, police and other law enforcement agencies, and said it welcomes the creation of a group of member states “to consider how to further modernise the Customs Union.”

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Dec. 21 (some may also be given separate headlines):

China criticized the U.S. move to add Chinese companies to its Entity List last week (see 2012180039), saying it unfairly suppresses Chinese industry and is an abuse of export controls. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson urged the U.S. to reverse the measures. “China firmly opposes this and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” the spokesperson said Dec. 19, according to an unofficial translation of a release of a press conference transcript.

A United Kingdom national was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to attempting to export a gas turbine to Iran (see 2009020056), the Justice Department said Dec. 17. Colin Fisher was also fined $5,000 for the export violations, which included an attempt to buy a gas turbine from Florida-based Turbine Resources International on behalf of a company in the United Arab Emirates.

A Russian citizen and two Bulgarians were charged with violating U.S. export controls after they used a Bulgarian company to illegally ship controlled items to Russia, the Department of Justice said Dec. 18. Russian national Ilias Sabirov and Bulgarian nationals Dimitar Dimitrov and Milan Dimitrov used Bulgarian company Multi Technology Integration Group EEOD (MTIG) to export the items, which included various electronic components. All three men were added to the Entity List last week (see 2012180039).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three senior Nicaragua officials for supporting President Daniel Ortega’s regime. The sanctions target Marvin Ramiro Aguilar Garcia, the vice president of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court of Justice; Walmaro Antonio Gutierrez Mercado, a deputy of the National Assembly; and Fidel De Jesus Dominguez Alvarez, chief of the Nicaraguan National Police in Leon, OFAC said Dec. 21. OFAC said all three support the Ortega regime’s effort to “undermine Nicaragua’s democracy.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three entities controlled by the Cuban military for evading U.S. sanctions, OFAC said Dec. 21. Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), and its subsidiaries Financiera Cimex S.A. (Fincimex) and Kave Coffee, S.A., use their “Panamanian incorporation to subvert international trade restrictions,” OFAC said. GAESA uses businesses in Panama to “bypass” U.S. Cuban Assets Control Regulations, while Fincimex operates as a financial investment and remittance company and Kave operates the country’s nationalized Cubita coffee brand, OFAC said. GAESA and Fincimex are also listed on the State Department’s Cuba Restricted List (see 2009280008).

The Bureau of Industry and Security plans to officially release the first tranche of its military end-user list (see 2012080046) Dec. 22, naming 103 companies that require licenses to receive certain U.S. exports, reexports or transfers. The first tranche will include 58 Chinese and 45 Russian companies that represent an “unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to” a military end-use or military end-user in China, Russia or Venezuela, the Commerce Department said Dec. 21.