The European Union extended restrictive measures on individuals and entities in Myanmar until April 30, 2022, the European Council announced in an April 29 news release. The sanctions were originally enacted in response to a military coup in the Southeast Asian nation and subsequent violence against peaceful protesters along with human rights atrocities committed against the Rohingya population and other ethnic minorities. Covering individuals and entities associated with the Myanmar Armed Forces, the restrictions include an arms embargo, export ban on dual-use goods for use by the military, and export restrictions on communications-monitoring equipment.
U.S. and Western sanctions against Syria are worsening the country's humanitarian crisis and should be lifted, Russia, China and Iran told the United Nations Security Council April 28. China urged all countries imposing sanctions against Syria “to immediately lift these restrictions, as they are deeply affecting the Syrian people,” according to a readout of the UNSC meeting. Iran also called for the “immediate removal of sanctions that weaponize food and medicine.” Russia said Syria must solve its issues “without any outside interference.” The U.S. highlighted its recent increases in humanitarian support to Syria and said Russia is partially responsible for blocking U.N. aid deliveries to Syria.
A German software company agreed to pay more than $8 million in fines after it admitted to violating U.S. export controls and sanctions against Iran, the Justice, Treasury and Commerce departments announced April 29. The company, SAP SE, came to settlement agreements with all three agencies after it voluntarily disclosed the violations, which included illegal exports and reexports of U.S.-origin software.
Semiconductor industry officials are preparing to push for export control modernization over certain electronics on the Commerce Control List, which they say will help controls avoid unintended consequences on U.S. companies and more accurately reflect national security concerns. The effort, led by the Semiconductor Industry Association, will look to convince the Bureau of Industry and Security to update certain control parameters and definitions, and make technical changes in Category 3 of the CCL, which officials view as out of date.
Even as the U.S. and the European Union work privately to resolve their differences over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing, a U.S. representative at the World Trade Organization complained that the EU provided no status update on coming into compliance over Airbus subsidies. The EU said that the measures it took in August 2020 (see 2008280051) were more than enough to comply with a WTO ruling, according to a Geneva trade official.
The European Court of Justice annulled a 2018 decision by the General Court of the European Union to delist the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) from the terror-related sanctions regime. In an April 22 opinion, the ECJ found that the lower court should have considered the evidence relating to why the European Council decided to continue listing the PKK as subject to sanctions. Determining that not all the evidence had been considered, the ECJ remanded the case to the lower court.
The Justice Department hasn’t yet begun prosecuting cases involving violations of the Commerce’s Department's newly issued end-user restrictions but expects that to soon become a significant part of the agency’s focus, a senior Department of Justice official said.
At a webinar on U.S.-Vietnam economic relations, Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc said Vietnam is working to narrow the trade deficit with the U.S., whether by buying more American agricultural exports or encouraging Vietnamese businesses to open factories in the U.S. "I don’t think we can solve the problem overnight, with COVID-19 and the increased demand of the goods from Southeast Asia, and particularly Vietnam," he said April 27.
The Treasury Department applauded the United Kingdom’s enactment of its new anti-corruption sanctions regime this week (see 2104260019), saying the authority will allow the two countries to work together more closely on global sanctions issues. “U.S. sanctions are more likely to compel changes in behavior and disrupt threatening activities when pursued in concert with our allies,” Treasury said April 26, adding that sanctions can “incentivize businesses to adopt a more proactive corporate risk and due diligence approach.” But the agency also stressed that sanctions are just “one tool,” and the U.S. will continue to provide guidance and “engagement” to industry. “The United States looks forward to continuing our collaboration with the United Kingdom and other allies to defend human rights, support good governance, and impose tangible and significant costs on those who engage in corruption,” Treasury said.
The European Union announced that North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Iceland and Norway aligned themselves with the bloc's decision to sanction 11 individuals and four entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, in an April 27 news release. The 15 designations, along with the sanctioning of four Russian individuals in early March, constitute the first major listings under the new human rights sanctions regime and include individuals and entities from China, North Korea, Libya, Russia, South Sudan and Eritrea (see 2103220024). In its first step against Eritrea since fighting began over Ethiopia's Tigray region, the EU sanctioned the nation's National Security Office for extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests. The other sanctions target a Chinese entity, the Central Public Prosecutor's Office in North Korea and the Kaniyat militia in Libya.