Five companies said they may have violated U.S. sanctions, export controls or anti-corruption laws, according to their February Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The potential violations involved illegal exports, providing services to sanctioned territories and gift cards sent to the Chinese government.
Following a package of measures meant to flush out ties between United Kingdom businesses and forced labor practices in China's Xinjiang region, compliance efforts have ramped up to ensure that supply chains are free of any association with the practice imposed on the region's Uighur Muslim population. In October 2020 and January of this year, U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced a suite of four policies meant to eliminate forced labor from supply chains (see 2101120056). The policies include business guidance to U.K. companies with links to Xinjiang; strengthening the Modern Slavery Act (MSA), that includes levying fines for non-compliance; transparency requirements for government procurement; and a review of export controls to Xinjiang.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's January rule that expanded export restrictions on foreign military intelligence agencies (see 2102190042) and other activities of U.S. companies could lead to expansive licensing requirements and place burdensome compliance obligations on U.S. companies, Akin Gump said in a March 1 letter to BIS. The law firm said it represents a client that may be affected by the rule’s broad language and urged the agency to narrow its breadth to limit impacts on legitimate business.
The European Union extended by one year sanctions against people responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds, the European Council said March 4. Now expiring March 6, 2022, the sanctions continue to impose asset freezes on seven people and also extend sanctions against one person until Sept. 6, 2021. The sanctions were last extended in March 2020 until March 6 this year.
CBP is trying to reduce the amount of time it spends searching through paper documents for automobile exports, Jim Swanson, director of the Cargo and Security Controls Division, for Cargo and Conveyance Security, CBP Office of Field Operations, said March 3 during an Airforwarders Association virtual event. CBP is testing use of the Document Image System for providing used-car titles within the Automated Export System, Swanson said. “The next phase of that, and one we are very close to and hopefully we'll start to see rollout this year, is an electronic process” that allows CBP to take information from AES and do a full title search, he said. “Then, and only then, if there are issues with that would we ask for additional information,” he said. The requirement to provide information within 72 hours of departure isn't going away, but this would allow the process to move along faster, he said. Swanson said that about 85% of all export resources CBP uses are involved in looking at used motor vehicle titles. CBP said it is planning to update AES to allow for integrated title searches this fall (see 2103030027).
The U.S. extended national emergencies authorizing sanctions against Zimbabwe, Venezuela and “with respect to” Russia's activity in Ukraine, the White House said March 3. The White House said Zimbabwe's president “hasn’t made the necessary political and economic reforms” that would warrant rescinding U.S. sanctions. It also said the situations in Ukraine and Venezuela “continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to” U.S. national security.
The United Nations special envoy for Myanmar urged members to “take very strong measures” against Myanmar to counter the violence overtaking the country after last month’s military coup, a U.N. news release said March 3. Christine Schraner Burgener said she warned Myanmar’s military that “strong” sanctions will likely be imposed, but the military told her “we are used to sanctions and we survived the sanctions time in the past.” The U.S. and the United Kingdom have imposed sanctions on the country (see 2102110020 and 2102260013). The European Union is preparing sanctions (see 2102100012).
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued new restrictions on exports to Myanmar and added four entities to the Entity List in response to the country’s military-led coup last month (see 2102110020). The restrictions, which take effect March 8, increase controls on certain “sensitive” items, remove certain license exceptions, impose a more strict licensing policy and subject Myanmar to BIS’s military end-use and end-user restrictions (see 2012220027), according to a final rule released March 4.
The Congressional Research Service issued a March 1 report on Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. snapback sanctions imposed under President Donald Trump's administration. The report details the dispute between European signatories of the Iran nuclear deal and the Trump administration over whether the U.S. had the authority to impose snapback sanctions (see 2008210009). It also lays out the impact that snapback sanctions could have on Iran and covers the conditions Iran must meet to remain in compliance with the deal. President Joe Biden's administration said it wants to rejoin the deal or craft a new one, and is willing to meet with Iran, but Iran declined that offer (see 2103010053).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Mexican national Juan Manuel Abouzaid El Bayeh for helping to move drug shipments and launder money for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a March 3 news release said. The agency labeled Abouzaid El Bayeh a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker. The designation was OFAC’s 12th action against the cartel, which was sanctioned in 2015.