The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Venezeulan biometric technology company and its directors for supporting the Nicolas Maduro regime, OFAC said Dec. 18. The sanctions target Ex-Cle Soluciones Biometricas C.A. and co-directors Guillermo Carlos San Agustin and Marcos Javier Machado Requena. OFAC said the company provides “management solutions” to Venezuela government entities and serves as an “electoral hardware and software vendor” to agencies under the Maduro regime.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 77 entities and people to the Entity List, including China’s top chipmaker, to further prevent China and other countries from acquiring sensitive U.S. technologies, the agency said Dec. 18. Along with China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the Entity List additions include China-based DJI, one of the world’s largest drone makers, and companies in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, Pakistan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade published a guidance Dec. 16 on duty suspension and tariff quotas that will take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2021. The guidance covers which tariff suspensions and quotas will be carried over from the European Union after the U.K. officially leaves the EU, and how long they will remain in effect.
The United Kingdom issued a guidance Dec. 16 on how it will manage export restrictions when the U.K. experiences supply shortages. The U.K. said it may introduce “temporary” export controls if there are certain shortages or a “risk of a shortage.” Those restrictions may include license requirements, export quotas and limits or bans on exporting a certain product.
The United Kingdom suspended import tariffs on a range of goods used to fight COVID-19, including face masks, gloves, hand sanitizers, face shields and other protective equipment, the U.K. said Dec. 16. While the U.K. had already removed import tariffs from certain protective equipment, it said it “is now going one step further and ensuring there are no additional costs on any items on the World Health Organisation’s latest list of critical goods.” The new suspensions will also extend to “private sector organisations,” the U.K. said, including “care homes” that were paying tariffs pf between 2% and 12% on the goods. The suspensions will take effect Jan. 1, 2021, and will remain in place for one year, the U.K. said.
The Census Bureau published a blog post Dec. 15 on submissions of “suppression requests” related to an “unresolved fatal error” in the Automated Export System. AES users can submit suppression requests to manually remove the fatal error for a specific Shipment Reference Number “that appears in an AES Fatal or Compliance Report,” Census said. The blog post details how and when users can submit the requests.
A small deal that would restore India's Generalized System of Preferences benefits is something that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal have made headway on, Lighthizer said while speaking to the Confederation of Indian Industry. “My guess is we are not far away from a deal like that. Keep in mind, obviously, we have a political change going on over here and that’s going to be a bit of a setback, certainly, to the extent that I can facilitate that, which I would be happy to do it, but there is going to be some changes and my guess is that is going to slow things up,” he said Dec. 16 during an online interview.
The U.S. extended by one year from Dec. 20, 2020, a national emergency authorizing sanctions against serious human rights abuses and corruption, the White House said Dec. 16. The White House said human rights abuses and corruption “continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
The State Department issued a notice Dec. 17 officially rescinding Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism (see 2010230022), which is expected to loosen certain export restrictions against the country under the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Administration Regulations. Sudan likely will no longer be subject to antiterrorism controls under the EAR and will be allowed to import a range of U.S. commercial goods, including electronics and software, according to a Dec. 14 post by Wiley Rein lawyers. Those trade restrictions have not yet been lifted, but the process should start soon, according to a Dec. 16 post by Akin Gump. The law firm urged companies to continue to be “diligent” and asses which remaining federal and state restrictions, including state level divestment sanctions regarding Sudan, as well as contractual or other relevant restrictions regarding Sudan still in place, may affect new business opportunities.”
Sen. Rob Portman, a former U.S. trade representative, said he's glad House Ways and Means Committee chief trade counsel Katherine Tai is the nominee for his old job, because he thinks “that will help with moving an agenda forward vis a vis Congress.” Portman was one of eight former USTRs speaking on a webinar Dec. 17 hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.