Vietnam adopted new dual-use export control regulations Oct. 10, setting rules for the "management of export, temporary import for re-export, transshipment" and "transit of strategic commercial goods," according to an unofficial translation. The regulations outline export licensing procedures for shipments of controlled items and say exporters moving those goods are "encouraged to develop and implement an Internal Compliance Program," including procedures for reviewing end users and uses, training employees and keeping records.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., urged the Treasury Department Oct. 15 to use the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review reports that China-based investors are buying Southern California land ravaged by January wildfires.
A bipartisan group of 27 House members, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul, R-Texas, called on President Donald Trump Oct. 17 to impose “forceful new joint sanctions” on Russia and countries that buy its oil, to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two individuals Oct. 17 for their affiliation with Viv Ansanm, a Haitian gang coalition that the agency said “contributes to the violence and instability within Haiti.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 17 removed four Bosnia and Herzegovina nationals from its Specially Designated Nationals List: Jelena Pajic Bastinac, Danijel Dragicevic, Dijana Milankovic and Goran Rakovic. The agency didn’t release more information. The four individuals were sanctioned during the Biden administration for undermining the 1995 peace deal that ended the Bosnian War (see 2501170071 and 2403130032).
A new draft report issued this month from the nonprofit Law Reform Institute examines how frontier AI systems may soon be able to create instructions, designs and code subject to U.S. export controls and whether the U.S. will need to restrict this through new controls on AI developers.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has resumed “limited operations” amid the federal government shutdown, according to the agency’s website. “Services currently available include registration renewals and licensing,” it said. “Certain support functions may remain unavailable during the lapse in government appropriations.”
Export license delays within the Bureau of Industry and Security have caused American technology companies to indefinitely postpone or rescind job offers for foreign students and job seekers. The delays also have complicated trips to the U.S. by foreign companies, which sometimes need a license to visit production facilities on American soil to make decisions about ordering U.S. products.
RANCH MIRAGE, Calif. -- The Federal Maritime Commission is increasing its enforcement action against ocean transportation intermediaries (OTIs) to promote adherence to licensing and tariff regulations, speakers said at the Pacific Coast Council’s Western Cargo Conference last week.
Vietnam has agreed to join the World Trade Organization's Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), the European Commission said. The MPIA, which has been championed by the EU as an alternative to the defunct Appellate Body, now includes 58 WTO members, including China, Japan and the U.K. The European Commission said the MPIA "supports rules-based trade, and each new adhesion increases the stability of multilateral trading relations."