New guidelines issued by the European Banking Authority are designed to help EU financial firms set common policies and procedures to comply with sanctions, export controls and other “restrictive measures.” The document offers separate guidelines for large banks and other sets of financial institutions, such as payment service providers and crypto-asset service providers, and includes recommendations around sanctions screening, risk assessments, due diligence and customer monitoring.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending the public comment period for an information collection involving the Chemical Weapons Convention provisions in the Export Administration Regulations. The collection describes the purpose of the CWC, U.S. reporting obligations and information on certain end-use certificates. Comments were due Oct. 28, but BIS said it’s allowing for another 30 days (see 2408270015).
The State Department this week announced penalties on three people and two entities and their subsidiaries for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
The founder and former CEO of a California-based freight forwarding company pleaded guilty on Nov. 26 to conspiring to violate export laws by sending goods to Chinese companies on the Commerce Department's Entity List, DOJ announced.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., urged the Biden administration last week to try to expand and better enforce the U.N. Security Council's arms embargo on war-torn Sudan.
The former chief of staff to then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been chosen for USTR in Donald Trump's second administration.
The Census Bureau emailed tips on how to address the most frequent messages generated this month in the Automated Export System.
The U.S. Helsinki Commission, also known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, plans to hold a hearing Dec. 5 to examine how Belarus has aided Russia’s war against Ukraine through sanctions evasion and other means.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 21 security and Cabinet-level officials with ties to the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela for supporting Maduro’s efforts to “fraudulently declare himself” the victor of the country’s July presidential election (see 2407290044 and 2310180070). The designations target members of Venezuela's security forces and government agencies that have helped to repress dissenting voices and maintain Maduro’s control over the country. Bradley Smith, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the agency will “continue to shine a light on those who seek to use violence and intimidation to undermine democratic governance and the legitimate exercise of free speech.”
Recently passed U.K. legislation gives the country’s top sanctions agency greater intelligence-gathering and enforcement powers, Crowell & Moring said in a November client alert, and could allow it to process license applications more efficiently.