The United Nations Security Council granted a sanctions exemption to allow an organization in Finland to deliver humanitarian goods to North Korea, a June 24 letter said. Finn Church Aid, a nongovernmental organization, is authorized to ship food supplies and learning materials to primary school children for the next six months. Finland may conduct “necessary business and financial transactions only for the purchase of goods and services exempted” by the UNSC.

The United Kingdom will impose its first human rights sanctions before the summer recess of its Parliament, U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said July 1. Raab said he “will not speculate on or pre-empt who or what will be in those designations.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control July 2 removed sanctions from eight companies and vessels that had been sanctioned for operating in Venezuela's oil sector. The agency also revoked a general license that authorized certain transactions with two of the shipping companies, Marshall Islands-based Delos Voyager Shipping and its Delos Voyager and the Greece-based Romina Maritime and its Euroforce (see 2006180044). OFAC also removed designations from the Delos Voyager and Euroforce, along with the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel Voyager I, Marshall Islands-based Sanibel Shiptrade Ltd. and Adamant Maritime Ltd., and the Bahamas-flagged vessel Seahero, which were sanctioned June 2 (see 2006020024).

Rich Ashooh, the Commerce Department’s assistant secretary for export administration, submitted his resignation and will officially leave the agency July 16, a Commerce spokesperson said. The spokesperson declined to comment on the reasons for Ashooh’s departure. Ashooh’s resignation was first reported by Reuters.

The Senate unanimously passed a bill July 2 that authorizes sanctions against Chinese officials and foreign banks associated with passing Hong Kong’s so-called national security law. The bill passed in the House July 1 without opposition and will now be sent to the White House to be signed by President Donald Trump. The Senate passed a similar bill last month (see 2006250043) but adopted the House version after technical changes were made.

Industry should expect the Bureau of Industry and Security to dedicate significant resources to enforcing its new export restrictions on shipments to military end-users and end-uses, export control experts said. Although the rule (see 2004270027), which took effect June 29, increased license restrictions for shipments to China, Russia and Venezuela, companies should expect increased enforcement and monitoring specifically for exports to China as the Trump administration hardens its stance on countering China’s civil-military fusion efforts, the experts said.

The U.S. named six panelists for the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism, for the enforcement of USMCA labor protections:

The U.S. Trade Representative announced the appointment of USMCA state-to-state dispute panelists July 1:

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of July 1 (some may also be given separate headlines):

The International Dairy Foods Association told the chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that it believes Canada is already violating the annex on tariff rate quotas in the USMCA. The dairy trade group, which sent a letter to Ambassador Gregg Doud on June 30, says that USMCA prohibits TRQs from having conditions or eligibility requirements beyond those already in the Canadian Tariff Schedule -- and that Canada is doing just that.