The Office of Foreign Assets Control unveiled an interim final rule this week that will extend the agency’s sanctions-related record-keeping requirements from five years to 10 years. The rule, effective in mid-March, will align the agency’s record-keeping rules with a similar expansion of the statute of limitations for civil and criminal violations of U.S. sanctions as part of a bill passed by Congress and signed into law earlier this year (see 2407220022 and 2404290071).
Christopher Stagg, an export control lawyer and former official with the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, started a new role as assistant editor at Bartlett's Annotated International Traffic in Arms Regulations, he announced on LinkedIn. The regularly updated publication is run by trade lawyer Jim Bartlett and includes ITAR-related footnotes, appendixes with statutes, court cases, consent agreements, government guidance and user aids.
The European Commission this week updated its Russia-related sanctions frequently asked questions, including guidance on the restrictions that apply to people and companies providing services to Russia. The updated FAQs cover how sanctions apply in the context of aggregate ownership (page 25); firewalls, which stop a sanctioned person from exercising control over a non-sanctioned EU company, allowing that company to continue normal business operations (page 39); and how sanctions apply to services provided as an employee of an EU mother company to a Russian subsidiary (page 349).
The U.S. on Sept. 5 unsealed an indictment against Sam Bhambhani, a North Attleboro, Massachusetts, resident and salesman for an unnamed laser source supplier, for allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. export controls and smuggling goods from the U.S. by sending laser welding machines to Russia. Also named in the indictment was Maxim Teslenko, a Russian citizen, who "acted as a reseller of laser equipment to the Russian government."
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, denied claims that President Joe Biden has been too soft on Iran, saying the Biden administration has imposed more sanctions on Iran than its predecessor.
The U.K. on Sept. 10 added three entries to its Russian sanctions regime and seven people and entities to its Iran sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced in a pair of notices.
The U.S. this week sanctioned nine Mexicans and 26 Mexico-based entities with ties to a network that steals fuel to generate revenue for the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a sanctioned Mexican drug trafficking group. The network has generated “tens of millions of dollars” for the cartel through fuel theft from Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, Pemex, including by illegally drilling taps into fuel pipelines, stealing from refineries and hijacking tanker trucks, the Treasury Department said.
The EU announced this week that it’s amending its dual-use export control list by adding and removing certain items, changing certain control parameters and revising technical definitions and descriptions. The changes reflect updates made by multilateral export control regimes during 2023, the European Commission said, including at the Australia Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The commission noted that these latest changes are “restricted in number because of the difficulties in the regimes’ proceedings,” alluding to the fact that Russia remains a member of Wassenaar and can veto new proposals (see 2405300063). The revisions will take effect one day after they’re published in the Official Journal of the EU.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated its guidance on applying for deemed export licenses, which people or companies must obtain before sharing a controlled item, software or technology with a foreign person on U.S. soil if a license would normally be required for that person's most recent country of citizenship or permanent residence. The guidance outlines the type of information applicants must submit, the information BIS takes into account when reviewing those licenses, and the set of conditions that the agency said are “standard” for approved licenses. A list of license condition best practices includes a reminder that approved applicants must annually verify to BIS that the foreign person has a “required work authorization” or that the foreign person has left the country.
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