President Joe Biden terminated the national emergency declared in a 2015 executive order that authorized certain sanctions against Burundi, the White House said Nov. 18. The “stability” of Burundi “has been significantly altered by events of the past year, including the transfer of power following elections in 2020, significantly decreased violence” and government reforms, the White House said. As a result, the Office of Foreign Assets Control removed a range of Burundi-related entries from its Specially Designationed Nationals List.
Port congestion and container issues are crippling U.S. exports of pork, dairy and other agricultural products, which could permanently lose ground to competitors in foreign markets if U.S. port problems aren’t quickly resolved, industry officials said. Speaking to a House Agriculture subcommittee this week, officials urged Congress to pass the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (see 2108100011) and do more to penalize carriers for leaving the U.S. with empty containers.
The Bureau of Industry and Security hasn’t done enough to restrict exports of sensitive technologies to Chinese artificial intelligence companies, Republican senators said in a Nov. 15 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The senators urged BIS to “expeditiously review and then add” to the Entity List all A.I. suppliers to China’s military, including those listed in a recent report by Georgetown University. In a report last month, university researchers said very few A.I. suppliers to China face specific U.S. export controls (see 2110290018).
President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against Nicaragua, the White House said Nov. 16. The Nicaraguan government has used violence to stop protests and continues to undermine the country’s democratic institutions, the White House said. The emergency was extended for one year beyond Nov. 27.
Although Japan was considering creating a human rights sanctions regime, it has abandoned the effort for the “time being,” according to a Nov. 16 report from The Mainichi, a Japanese newspaper. The country is hoping to “keep its diplomatic options open” with China, the report said, which would likely require sanctions under the legislation for China's abuses against religious minorities in the Xinjiang region. Japan will consider using existing legislation, including its foreign exchange and foreign trade law, to impose penalties and asset freezes for human rights violations, the report said.
The Commerce Department and the State Department are considering final rules that would revise export controls for goods destined to Cambodia. Under its final rule, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security would revise certain restrictions for Cambodia under the Export Administration Regulations, while the State Department would add Cambodia to its list of proscribed countries in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Both agencies sent their respective rules for interagency review Nov. 16.
A bipartisan congressional commission called on the U.S. to take more aggressive steps to stop China from acquiring sensitive U.S. technologies, including through more export controls and sanctions. The recommendations, released Nov. 17 by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission as part of its annual report to Congress, could make sweeping changes to how the Commerce Department imposes certain export controls and how U.S. agencies coordinate trade restrictions.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the freezing of funds and economic resources prevents the implementation of measures that establish a right to be paid on a priority basis in favor of a certain creditor in relation to others, because those measures alter the destination of the frozen funds, potentially allowing their use. The decision came in response to a preliminary ruling from the French Court of Cassation on questions arising from the case Bank Sepah v. Overseas Financial Ltd. and Oaktree Finance Ltd. The case dealt with creditors' ability to enforce action against assets frozen under the EU's Iran sanctions regime, the EU Sanctions blog reported Nov. 15. The French court asked the ECJ whether EU sanctions prevent a "non-earmarking" judicial lien from being imposed over frozen assets without a license and whether it is relevant that the debt is unrelated to the Iranian ballistic missile program and came about before the bank's United Nations sanctions designation. On the latter question, the ECJ said that "the fact that the grounds for the claim for recovery from the person whose funds are frozen are unrelated to the Iranian ballistic missile programme is not relevant to that question," EU Sanctions said.
The Environmental Protection Agency published a final rule Nov. 15 setting new significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for five chemical substances subject to Premanufacture Notices (PMNs). As a result of the SNURs, persons planning to manufacture, import or process any of the chemical substances for an activity designated as a significant new use by this rule are required to notify EPA at least 90 days in advance. Importers of chemicals subject to these SNURs will need to certify their compliance with the SNUR requirements, and exporters of these chemical substances will now become subject to export notification requirements. The final rule takes effect Jan. 14, 2022. The SNURs cover the following:
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