The U.S. this week sanctioned people and entities for their ties to North Korea, including financial firms, employees of U.S.-designated companies, military officials and others.
The U.S. is planning new export controls to restrict sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips to certain parts of the world in a bid to further limit China’s ability to access them, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 13. The rules, which could reportedly come this month, may place caps on shipments of AI chips to certain countries for use in large computing facilities, including nations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Close U.S. allies would not be affected, the report said. The Biden administration recently sent letters to major chipmakers informing them about some of the restrictions.
The U.S. and its allies should increase their scrutiny of China's foreign investment in commercial remote sensing firms to ensure the Chinese military does not benefit from such transactions, the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a new report Dec. 16.
The U.S. government needs a better framework to allow various agencies to coordinate on economic security measures, such as export controls and investment restrictions, Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves said.
Even if a transaction is authorized by a Treasury Department sanctions license or a Commerce Department export license, it still may be subject to prohibitions or notification requirements under Treasury’s new outbound investment rules (see 2410280043), the agency said in new FAQs.
The U.S. last week indicted 14 North Korean nationals working as part of a “long-running” conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions. DOJ said they used fake or borrowed identities of Americans and others to pose as remote information technology employees for U.S. companies and generate revenue for the North Korean government.
The U.S. government should dramatically increase the number of Cuban officials who are sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said Dec. 11.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has completed a round of interagency review for a final rule that would make certain changes to U.S. export controls based on recent decisions made at the multilateral Australia Group. BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Nov. 22 (see 2411250004), and the review was completed Dec. 12.
New guidance published by the EU last week outlines steps people and companies should take to make sure their dual-use goods and technology aren’t being sent to Russia, including red flags they should be monitoring as part of their compliance programs. It also offers insight into how the European Commission interprets violations of the bloc’s anti-circumvention laws, with a specific focus on minimum due diligence expectations for businesses and banks.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined C.H. Robinson, one of the world’s largest logistics firms, more than $250,000 after OFAC said its non-U.S. subsidiaries violated sanctions against Iran and Cuba. The five subsidiaries allegedly provided freight brokerage or transportation services for 82 shipments to or from Iran or involving Iranian or Cuban goods, while one of the companies also did business with sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air.