The Bureau of Industry and Security extended by 30 days the comment period for an information collection related to statements by the ultimate consignee and purchaser of U.S. exports (see 2103220006), it said in a notice. The collection involves Form BIS-711, which provides information on the foreign importer receiving the U.S. technology, describes how the technology will be used and “provides assurances” that the technology will not be used in violation of the Export Administration Regulations. Comments are now due by Aug. 20.
The Treasury Department’s top official in charge of its ongoing sanctions review (see 2107060012 and 2106220037) met this week with a bipartisan group of former sanctions officials, Treasury said in a July 20 news release. The virtual discussion, which included Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo and six former sanctions officials from the previous three administrations, featured talks on sanctions strategies and how to limit unintended consequences on businesses, allies and humanitarian groups. The agency said the discussion was part of a “series of engagements” to “identify opportunities for and challenges to improving the use and process for U.S. economic and financial sanctions.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for July 12-16 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. shouldn’t rely on export controls on semiconductors to stay ahead of China because the strategy would likely “backfire,” a former Department of Defense official told Congress this week. Lisa Porter, the former deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said government intervention in supply chains can “distort the market in ways that are hard to predict” and could lead to unintended consequences for the microelectronics industry.
The Commerce and Treasury departments fined a Dubai energy equipment supplier and its U.S. affiliate more than $430,000 for illegally exporting goods to Iran, the agencies said July 19. The U.S. fined Dubai-based Alfa Laval Middle East (AL Middle East) $415,695 for exporting Gamajet brand storage tank cleaning units from the U.S. to Iran and fined Virginia-based Alfa Laval (AL U.S.) $16,875 because its subsidiary referred an Iranian “business opportunity” to AL Middle East, according to enforcement orders issued this week.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listing for Anwar Ahmed Khan under its Global Human Rights sanctions regime, in a July 16 update. Khan, a Pakistani national and former senior superintendent of police in Pakistan's Malir District, was “responsible for numerous staged police encounters in which hundreds of individuals were extra-judicially killed by police,” his listing says.
The EU General Court annulled the sanctions listing of Xavier Antonio Moreno Reyes, the secretary general of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, in a July 14 ruling. The court dropped the sanctions designation after finding that the European Council had not established that the reasons for his listing were "well founded." The sanctions listing was not well-founded since the council did not show that Moreno Reyes approved the decisions of the National Electoral Council.
Sanctions and export control enforcement in the United Kingdom has increased significantly in the past year as the country emphasizes more investigative work and higher penalties, said Tristan Grimmer, a compliance lawyer in Baker McKenzie’s London office.
More than 15 Senate Republicans introduced a bill July 15 that would impose human rights sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and incoming President Ebrahim Raisi. The legislation would require the president to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. Those introducing the bill include Foreign Relations Committee members, among them Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Todd Young of Indiana. The U.S. already imposes certain sanctions against Khamenei (see 1906240046).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published previously expired Ukraine-related general licenses to provide their full texts. Released July 16, the notices include Ukraine-Related Web General License 12, 14 and their “subsequent iterations.”