The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three former Uzbekistan officials for their involvement in human trafficking and physical and sexual violence against children at a state-run orphanage. The designations, which mark the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, target Yulduz Khudaiberganova, Anvar Kuryazov and Aybek Masharipov, who OFAC said "participated in repeated physical abuse, sexual assault, and trafficking of orphan children" and other human rights abuses.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will hold a virtual public briefing 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST on Dec. 5 about its new export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment (see 2412020016). Registration closes at 1 p.m. EST on Dec. 5.
A new set of U.S. export controls announced this week target a range of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, chip software tools, high-bandwidth memory and more, including by introducing new license obligations on certain foreign-made tools that the Bureau of Industry and Security said can be used by China to make advanced chips for its military. BIS also added more than 100 entities to the Entity List, most based in China, for aiding Beijing's military technology goals.
Rachel Fredman Lyngaas, the Treasury Department’s chief sanctions economist, is leaving the government, she announced on LinkedIn. She said her next role will involve “economic security from another perch outside of public service.”
A bipartisan, bicameral group of four lawmakers announced Nov. 25 the introduction of a bill to create a State Sponsor of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention (SSWD) designation, which would allow the State Department to impose sanctions and other penalties on countries that wrongfully detain Americans.
A new Bureau of Industry and Security license exception that could allow U.S. exporters to continue shipping certain advanced technologies to a list of close American allies is promising, but it presents some “limitations” if not implemented correctly, the Center for Strategic and International studies said this week.
No policy option available to the U.S. government, including lifting export controls, will persuade China to stop trying to de-Americanize and decouple its semiconductor equipment sector, the Center for Strategic and International Studies argued in a new report this week.
Recently issued Bureau of Industry and Security guidance that outlined the agency’s due diligence expectations for banks (see 2411010030) was a “warning shot” to financial institutions that they must take export compliance seriously, Meshkat Law said in a November client alert. The firm said the new guidance dispelled “any notions that compliance with the [Export Administration Regulations] is just for exporters.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security added more than 100 entities to the Entity List and released a new set of semiconductor-related export controls on Dec. 2, introducing new license requirements for both U.S.-origin and foreign-produced chip tools and publishing new red flag guidance on how companies should be vetting Chinese chip factories.
Although President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the federal bureaucracy in Washington, a key architect of recent DOJ export control and sanctions initiatives believes those efforts will echo through the next administration.