The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a July 6 guidance detailing how sanctioned people and entities can request changes or repeals of their designations. OFSI also released a “Sanctions Challenge Form” for “designated persons” to request a review of their designation.

The United Kingdom will begin processing export license applications for military exports to Saudi Arabia about one year after halting those licenses (see 1907180047), a July 7 notice said. The U.K., which had restricted licenses for exports of defense or military goods to Saudi Arabia that could be used for the conflict in Yemen, will now begin clearing that backlog of license applications and issuing decisions. The country’s Export Control Joint Unit said each application will be “carefully assessed” and could “take some months to clear this backlog.” It also said industry would expect delays in processing new applications until the backlog is cleared.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 29 - July 2 in case you missed them.

With the USMCA in effect, U.S. and Mexican companies will closely monitor a July 8 meeting between President Donald Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which is expected to feature talks on USMCA implementation and trade cooperation, experts said. Industry hopes the meeting -- Lopez Obrador’s first visit with Trump -- helps to strengthen the two countries’ commitment to USMCA and underscores attempts to reshore supply chains, reducing dependency on trade with China, the experts said.

The U.S. government has been slow to incentivize research and development in the semiconductor industry, ceding ground to foreign governments that have been heavily investing in advanced technologies for “decades,” Semiconductor Industry Association CEO John Neuffer, said. He praised a recent push by Congress and the administration to provide more federal funding for semiconductor innovation (see 2006260013 and 2006110038) but said much more is needed.

Brazil added 356 items to its list of foreign capital goods and information technology and telecommunications goods subject to duty-free treatment under the country’s Ex-Tarifario regime, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in a July 3 report. Of the items, 329 are capital goods, and 27 are IT and telecom goods, the report said. The goods will benefit from duty-free treatment though Dec. 31, 2021. Brazil also renewed tariff-rate quotas on imports for six products: pigments, certain paper, aluminum ingot, chromium sulfate, p-Xylene and polyamide.

Brazil clarified the scope of medical goods subject to export restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2004300017), the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said July 3. The goods encompass a range of personal protective equipment, including plastic goggles, masks, gloves and “protective capes.” Brazil will also restrict exports of “resuscitation breathing apparatus,” certain ventilators, hospital beds and multi-parameter monitors. The export ban does not apply to: personal protective equipment that cannot be used in the health sector; “on-board supplies”; temporary exports intended for “homologation, tests, prototypes, etc.”; and temporary exports for “outward processing,” the report said.

Japan is likely to see increased demand for imports of biomass-based plastic bags as retail shoppers now have to pay to use plastic shopping bags, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a June 30 report. The fee on plastic bags took effect July 1 and will not apply to biodegradable plastic bags or plastic bags containing at least 25% renewable plant-based materials, the report said. Japanese demand for those bags is expected to rise as a “number of large fast food restaurants and grocery stores” begin to use them.

The Department of Justice issued a forfeiture warrant and complaint for all petroleum products aboard four tankers that it alleged are illegally shipping Iranian oil to Venezuela. The ships -- the Bella, the Bering, the Pandi and the Luna -- allegedly are working with the U.S.-sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to ship the oil and fund IRGC terrorist activities, DOJ said July 2. The four tankers are carrying more than 1 million barrels of gasoline combined, the agency said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked Mahin Mojtahedzadeh’s export privileges after he was convicted of illegally exporting gas turbine parts to Iran, a July 1 order said. Mojtahedzadeh was convicted Jan. 30, 2020, of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sentenced to time served and a $5,000 fine (see 2002030015). BIS revoked Mojtahedzadeh’s export privileges for 10 years from his date of conviction.