President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against narcotics traffickers in Colombia, the White House said Oct. 12. The traffickers continue to pose an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. security and cause “an extreme level of violence, corruption, and harm in the United States and abroad.” The emergency was extended for one year beyond Oct. 21.
The U.S. and more than 30 other countries are meeting virtually this week to discuss how to better counter and disrupt ransomware attacks, including through sanctions, the White House said Oct. 13. The meetings come less than a month after the U.S. sanctioned SUEX, a large virtual currency exchange, for helping to facilitate transactions related to illegal ransomware attacks (see 2109210031). The White House said the Treasury Department “will continue to disrupt and hold accountable these ransomware actors and their money laundering networks,” and the meetings this week could be a forum for discussing multilateral actions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a U.S.-based telecommunications company $1.87 million for illegally exporting goods to Vietnam, BIS said in an Oct. 12 order. California-based VTA Telecom, a subsidiary of a Vietnamese state-owned telecom company, included false statements in its export applications to hide the true end-uses for the exports, BIS said.
The United Kingdom updated its guidance for nongovernmental organizations and others relating to counterterrorist sanctions and export controls, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Oct. 11. The guidance walks NGOs through export control and sanctions-related FAQs, including what forms of transactions are banned under financial sanctions, how the sanctions apply to NGOs and where to check if an NGO it might be dealing with a designated entity.
The United Kingdom updated its export control licensing data for April 1 - June 30, 2021, the Department for International Trade said. In a table on the overall licensing statistics, the U.K. saw 3,593 Standard Individual Export Licenses applications, with 3,526 issued. The U.K. also saw 93 Open Individual Export License applications, with 86 issued. The U.K. saw 98 Open General Export License registrations in this period for exports of dual-use items to EU member states.
The European Union extended by a year its sanctions regimes relating to human rights violations in Nicaragua and the proliferation of chemical weapons, the European Council said Oct. 11. The Nicaragua sanctions apply to 14 individuals and were imposed in 2019 due to the “deterioriating political and social situation” in the Central American nation. The chemical weapons sanctions apply to 15 individuals and two entities and are meant to back the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
The European Union sanctioned an additional eight individuals for “actively supporting actions and implementing policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the European Council said Oct. 11. These eight individuals include judges and prosecutors responsible for enforcing Russian law in Crimea and Sevastopol, the council said. The total number of sanctioned parties is 185 individuals and 48 entities.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Oct. 4-8 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.S.’s new export restrictions over certain biological equipment software could have a major impact on life science companies, universities and research organizations, and could present significant foreign investment screening hurdles, law firms said. While the restrictions were issued multilaterally and will only seek to stop certain software exports that can be exploited for biological weapons purposes, firms warned that the new restrictions could still be difficult to manage.
President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against Syria, the White House said Oct. 7. The situation in Syria continues to undermine the U.S. campaign to defeat the Islamic State group, “endangers civilians,” threatens stability in the region and poses a threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy, the White House said. The emergency was extended for one year beyond Oct. 14.