Lawmakers unveiled a new continuing resolution late Dec. 19 that doesn't include the outbound investment restrictions and export control and sanctions provisions that an earlier version contained (see 2412180034).
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended one entry under its Belarus sanctions regime on Dec. 19. OFSI altered the listing for Mikail Gutseriev, a Cypriot-Russian businessman, to establish that he was being sanctioned for "owning or controlling directly or indirectly" Belarussian energy companies JSC NK Neftisa and PJSC RussNeft.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week sanctioned several Georgian government officials for their involvement in the violent suppression of media members, opposition figures and protesters, and other human rights violations aimed at stifling civil dissent. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said some of those "brutal crackdowns" took place in November after Georgia's prime minister announced the country planned to suspend negotiations around joining the EU, prompting country-wide protests.
The U.S. sanctioned several entities and vessels this week that it said are trading in Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals, which is helping to generate billions of dollars in revenue for Iran’s government.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a range of people and entities for their roles in arms trafficking, money laundering, oil shipping and other activities that support the Yemen-based Houthis. OFAC said the designations specifically target key “smuggling operatives” and financial facilitators that allow the Houthis, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, to buy and move dual-use items and weapons parts.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its online landing page for licenses to improve the “user experience,” published a new guide on checking the status of specific license applications and issued a set of best practices on applying for a license. The best practices guidance includes a checklist of do’s and don’t’s that applicants should follow when preparing an application and awaiting a decision.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should increase its enforcement of semiconductor export controls to prevent American-made computing chips from ending up in Russian weapons and Chinese artificial intelligence systems, the Democratic majority staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a new report released this week.
The World Trade Organization and the Asian Development Bank jointly launched a database on trade in critical minerals to boost transparency on those minerals and "support the clean energy transition," the WTO announced. The database provides "up-to-date critical minerals trade data, related policies, and visualisations of trade patterns based on publicly available sources," the WTO said. "Data can be visualised as bar charts, tree maps, and network graphs, providing insights into the main trading partners, product specialization, and trade networks."
The European Commission on Dec. 17 opened a review of the EU safeguard measure on steel, the Direcotrate-General for Trade announced. The investigation will run until March 31, 2025, and any decision resulting from the proceeding will take effect on April 1, 2025, the commission said. The measure was imposed on certain steel products in 2018 and has been extended twice. It's currently set to expire June 30, 2026, at which time it will have reached the "maximum eight years allowed under EU law and WTO rules," the commission said. "This new review investigation will not impact the duration of the measure."
The Pentagon this week removed two Chinese companies from its 1260H List, the list it uses to name firms that it says have ties to China’s military. The agency removed semiconductor company Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment and investment firm IDG Capital Partners Co., it said in a Federal Register notice Dec. 18. It didn’t give a reason for the delistings. Companies on the list face certain U.S. government contract restrictions.