The Semiconductor Industry Association hired Meghan Biery, previously the senior national security policy adviser at the Bureau of Industry and Security, as director of global technology and security policy, the SIA said in a May 24 news release. “A seasoned policy practitioner with high-level experience in technology security, export control, and related issues, Meghan Biery will be a strong and capable advocate for our industry’s interests in Washington and around the world," SIA CEO John Neuffer said.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the general license for counterterrorism sanctions, granting legal aid payments to solicitors representing sanctioned individuals for their work in doing so, OFSI said in a May 21 update. The change to the license also removed a reporting requirement to qualify for the license, the EU Sanctions blog reported.
The European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution May 20 to halt ratification of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between the European Union and China. The resolution said CAI ratification discussions have “justifiably been frozen” due to Chinese sanctions in place on the EU in response to Europe's own sanctions on China over its treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province. The European Parliament wants the sanctions lifted on all 10 European individuals before ratification can continue. The report also mentioned the deteriorating human rights situation in Hong Kong as a cause for European concern with regard to continued relations with China.
The State Department again determined Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Cuba are not “cooperating fully” with U.S. antiterrorism efforts, a notice published May 25 said. Under the Arms Export Control Act, no defense article or defense service may be sold or licensed for export to a foreign country that is determined not to be cooperating, unless a waiver is granted.
The Commerce Department again renewed a temporary export denial order for Mahan Airways because the airline continues to violate the order and the Export Administration Regulations, according to a May 21 notice. The Iranian airline has been on the banned list since 2008. The latest renewal is for 180 days.
The 22 states, along with Washington, D.C., that challenged the Trump administration's decision to transfer "ghost gun" blueprints from the U.S. Munitions List to the less-restrictive Commerce Control List will not seek a review of the U.S.Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit's decision to greenlight the move. According to a May 18 consent motion, lawyers for the State Department and the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls requested that the court immediately issue the mandate in the case, claiming that they received the go-ahead from the plaintiffs. Brendan Selby, counsel for the plaintiff State of Washington, told the defense that the states consent to the "immediate issuance of the mandate."
Seventeen House Republicans introduced a resolution that opposes removing sanctions on a company and executive connected to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., on May 20 introduced the resolution, which is not binding on the administration, even if it were to pass both chambers. Republicans have been publicly criticizing the decision (see 2105200055).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on May 21 designated three entities and 13 vessels under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEESA), which authorizes sanctions against Russia’s energy sector and its use of energy export pipelines. OFAC also issued a general license to exempt certain transactions with one of the sanctioned entities and issued two new frequently asked questions.
A “groundbreaking” settlement agreement between a German software company and three U.S. agencies (see 2104290069 and 2105070042) may signal greater enforcement of sanctions and export violations and present more compliance challenges for industry, law firms said. The more than $8 million settlement between SAP SE and the Justice, Treasury and Commerce departments -- the first non-prosecution agreement under the Justice Department's revised voluntary disclosure policies (see 2008180043) -- also includes several important lessons for businesses and may lay out how monitorships can be avoided, the firms said.
The Treasury and State departments May 20 sanctioned two senior Ansarallah military leaders for exacerbating Yemen’s civil war. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Muhammad Abd Al-Karim al-Ghamari and the State Department designated Yusuf al-Madani. The agencies said the two committed human rights violations and terrorism on behalf of Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis.