The United Kingdom's navy captured evidence of ships violating United Nations sanctions on North Korea in the East China Sea, the Defense Ministry said. HMS Richmond conducted operations in the East China Sea, finding evidence that ships provided fuel or refined petroleum products to North Korea, in violation of the sanctions established in 2017. HMS Richmond detached from the U.K. Carrier Strike Group deployed in the Indo-Pacific. The operations mark the first time since 2019 that a Royal Navy ship has supported U.N. sanctions monitoring and enforcement activity, the ministry said.
The U.S. and Qatar announced joint sanctions against a “major” Hezbollah financial network based in the Arabian Peninsula, which includes seven people and one entity, the Treasury Department said Sept. 29. Treasury designated Ali Reda Hassan al-Banai, Ali Reda al-Qassabi Lari, Abd al-Muayyid al-Banai, Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Nabi Shams, Yahya Muhammad al-Abd-al-Muhsin, Majdi Fa’iz al-Ustadz and Sulaiman al-Banai as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for supporting Hezbollah and terrorism. The agency also sanctioned Qatar-based Aldar Properties, which is controlled by Sulaiman al-Banai.
The U.S. partnered with Singapore and Japan to host a virtual trade industry outreach seminar this week, where they discussed emerging technology exports, sanctions compliance and more, the Bureau of Industry and Security said. The ninth annual Joint Industry Outreach seminar, which featured officials from the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, Philippines and Malaysia, included discussions on the intersection of export controls and sanctions, controlling emerging technologies, cyber-threats to export-controlled data, intangible transfers of technology and intellectual property, export controls for academic and research environments, and tools for internal compliance planning, BIS said. The agency said the seminar, held Sept. 28-29, allowed governments and industry to share best practices and review recent export control updates.
The State Department extended a September 2020 rule that temporarily suspended restrictions on certain defense exports to Cyprus because it has proven to be “in the national security interest” of the U.S., the agency said in a notice released Sept. 29. The rule (see 2009020045) amended the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to relax restrictions surrounding exports of nonlethal defense goods and services to Cyprus, and also eased restrictions on reexports, retransfers and temporary imports. The agency had been considering extending the rule for several months and was monitoring whether it was helping U.S. exporters (see 2010220049). The extended rule, effective Sept. 30, will now last through Sept. 30, 2022.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week completed an interagency review for a final rule that would expand export controls on certain biological equipment software. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Sept. 13 (see 2109140011) and completed Sept. 28, would control software “for the operation of automated nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers” that are “capable of designing and building functional genetic elements from digital sequence data.”
The U.S. and the European Union agreed to develop “convergent” export controls on sensitive technologies and work more closely on investment screening, the White House said in a fact sheet released after the Sept. 29 inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (see 2109270027). Although the White House didn’t name specific technologies that could come under more export control or investment scrutiny, it stressed the importance of semiconductor supply chain cooperation and said the two sides agreed to “achieve concrete outcomes by the next meeting.”
The State Department is considering an open general-license concept for certain defense exports, which would allow U.S. exporters to ship to certain U.S. trading partners without having to apply for a specific license, a senior agency official said. The concept would likely begin as a pilot program, said Mike Miller, deputy assistant secretary for defense trade in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, but it's still being discussed and there isn’t yet a timetable for release.
Venezuela has struck a deal with Iran to swap its heavy oil for Iranian condensate that can be used to up the quality of the country's tar-like crude oil, Reuters reported Sept. 25. The first shipments are expected this week, five people close to the deal said, according to Reuters. The deal, signed between the state-run companies Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. and National Iranian Oil Co., seeks to skirt U.S. sanctions for both nations. The swap is scheduled to last six months but could be extended, the report said. The Treasury Department told Reuters the U.S. can impose “secondary sanctions” against non-U.S. individuals or entities that carry out transactions with either of the oil companies. Secondary sanctions can include freezing a given party out of the U.S. financial system, fines or asset freezes.
The Defense Department issued a final rule this week amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to implement the 2020 rescission of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism (see 2012170015, 2105190006 and 2101140018). The rule, effective Sept. 29, aligns certain DOD regulations with the removal of U.S. sanctions against Sudan, including the agency’s defense commercial acquisition rules.
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