The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold another Defense Export Control and Compliance System webinar on June 10, DDTC said in a notice this week. The webinar will cover updates to DECCS that took effect since the last webinar (see 2004080022), the State Department’s response to COVID-19, frequently asked questions, best practices and a question-and-answer session. The webinar will take place 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT; login information is provided in the notice.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security corrected the formatting for an April final rule that expanded licensing requirements for certain military-related exports to China, Russia and Venezuela, according to a notice. The corrected format “publishes the full text of each revised Export Control Classification Number on the Commerce Control List,” the notice said. BIS issued the correction because the agency “felt it was easier for compliance purposes,” said Hillary Hess, BIS’s regulatory policy director, speaking during a June 2 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. “It does not change the substance of the rule at all.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said some farmers he spoke to in his home state of Iowa told him they're concerned about trade with China. Grassley told such questioners he's not worried about the trade agreement.

The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed and amended designations on its Syria sanctions list, according to a June 1 notice. The notice removes sanctions from four entries: Maen Rizk Allah Haykal, Jamea Jamea, Hayan Kaddour and Developers Private Joint Stock Company. The notice also amends an entry for Qasem Soleimani, who is still subject to an asset freeze.

The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended an entry for Martin Koumtamadji, the leader of an anti-government militia in the Central African Republic, according to a June 1 notice. Koumtamadji, who was also sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council (see 2005060021), is still subject to an asset freeze.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four companies and four vessels for operating in Venezuela's oil sector, according to a June 2 press release. The designated entities include Marshall Islands-based Afranav Maritime Ltd., owner of the Panamanian-flagged Athens Voyager; Greece-based Seacomber Ltd., owner of the Maltese flagged Chios I; Marshall Islands-based Adamant Maritime Ltd., owner of Bahamian-flagged Seahero; and Marshall Islands-based Sanibel Shiptrade Ltd., owner of the Marshall Islands-flagged Voyager I.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 26-29 in case you missed them.

The Commerce Department has not been able to officially designate 33 entities for weapons proliferation and human rights abuses due to publication delays at the Federal Register, a Commerce official said. The designations, which were announced May 22, will add companies and government agencies to Commerce’s Entity List for involvement in China’s detention and abuses of its Uighur population (see 2005220058).

Commerce Department officials will hold discussions with the Office of the General Counsel June 3 to try to make progress on the agency’s long-awaited proposed rules on routed export transactions, said Kiesha Downs, chief of the Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch. The discussions will include OGC’s Office of the Chief Counsel and officials from both Census and the Bureau of Industry and Security as the two agencies try to build on a meeting in March (see 2003100046).

The Bureau of Industry and Security will officially add 33 companies and government agencies to the Entity List on June 5 for their roles in proliferation activities and aiding human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province, BIS said in two Federal Register notices. The notices formalize the previously announced additions.