CBP’s Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee released a partial version of its Export Modernization White Paper, which is meant to serve as a “strategy and roadmap” for the future of the export process (see 2106180025). The paper, presented by the Secure Trade Lanes Subcommittee’s Export Modernization Work Group during a June 23 meeting, includes information on the responsibilities of parties in the export process, where data “actually” originates, who owns the data, how it should be used for export enforcement and more.
The Export-Import Bank will release its annual report to Congress on global official export credit agencies this month, it said June 21. Ex-Im’s advisory committee met last week to discuss the report and some challenges facing U.S. exporters in “global export competition.” It also discussed and “expressed strong support” for the bank’s China and transformational exports program, which authorizes Ex-Im support to help traders better compete with China (see 2104250003).
The two Treasury Department nominees slated to oversee some of the agency’s sanctions work (see 2105260018) said they will prioritize Treasury’s ongoing sanctions review, but declined to commit to any specific actions related to Iran, China or the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Brian Nelson, the nominee to lead the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office, and Elizabeth Rosenberg, the nominee to be assistant secretary for terrorist financing, told a Senate panel June 22 they will pursue strong penalties against sanctions evaders but want more information before committing to take specific actions.
China sanctioned a Belgian politician for writing a resolution calling for the Belgian government to acknowledge the human rights abuses being committed against the Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province. Samuel Cogolati, member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, has been sanctioned for “maliciously spread[ing] lies and misinformation and gravely [undermining] China's sovereignty and interests,” a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a June 16 news conference, according to a translated transcript. The Belgian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution June 15.
The U.S. and several allies announced a host of new sanctions against people and entities responsible for the Belarusian government’s disputed 2020 presidential election and recent human rights abuses. The sanctions, coordinated with Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom, also target Belarus and President Alexander Lukashenko’s government for the forced diversion of a commercial plane last month to arrest a journalist, the U.S. Treasury and State Department said June 21. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also issued a new general license to authorize certain transactions with Belarus and published additional sanctions guidance.
The European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution calling for the European Union Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime to include corruption as a punishable offense. Unlike the sanctions regime to the U.S. Global Magnitsky Act, the EU's current regime lacks corruption penalties, a June 16 news release said. Parliament members “should also be able to propose cases of serious human rights violations, in order to increase the legitimacy of the sanctions regime,” the release said. “In addition, Members insist on an inclusive sanctions process to facilitate input from civil society.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bill last week they say will strengthen semiconductor supply chains by incentivizing more domestic manufacturing. The Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors (FABS) Act, like several similar bills proposed in recent months (see 2106100028), would introduce investment tax credits for investments in semiconductor manufacturing and other incentives for the semiconductor industry, the senators said June 17. An emphasis would be placed on manufacturing of “specialized tooling equipment” required in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and top Republican Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, introduced the bill with four other committee members as co-sponsors.
CBP’s Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee will receive several export modernization recommendations in a white paper expected to be presented during the COAC’s June 23 meeting (see 2106070033), the group said. The “Export Operations for the 21st Century” white paper, presented by the Secure Trade Lanes Subcommittee’s Export Modernization Work Group, will “lay out a strategy and roadmap for the next phase of the export process.” It will also outline where export data “actually originates,” who owns that data and how it should be used for export enforcement, the subcommittee said.
Exporters looking to comply with U.S. Entity List restrictions should pay close attention to foreign companies affected by a CBP withhold release order, which could later lead to U.S. export restrictions, said Sylvia Costelloe, a trade lawyer with Arent Fox. Costelloe said at least two companies were subject to a WRO and later added to the Entity List, including China-based Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories (see 2005010040 and 2007200026). “What this indicates here in this space is that there might actually be some cooperation or some collaboration between CBP and Commerce,” Costelloe said during a June 16 Arent Fox webinar. While she said CBP doesn’t sit on the End-User Review Committee, which decides which entities to add and remove from the Entity List, Commerce still “might be looking to CBP when deciding whether or not to add certain entities to the Entity List.” Commerce didn’t immediately comment.
The State Department should issue more sanctions against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega regime, which is arresting political opposition leaders and continues to commit human rights violations, a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers said. In a June 15 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the lawmakers said the U.S. can expand on the designations issued June 9 against members of Ortega’s inner circle (see 2106090055).