The European Union extended by one year its sanctions regimes for Moldova and Burundi, the EU said Oct. 30. The regimes will be in force until Oct. 31, 2021.
The U.S. renewed a national emergency authorizing sanctions against Sudan despite suggesting that it was considering ending some restrictions, the White House said Nov. 2. “Despite recent positive developments,” the White House said, the crisis in Sudan “has not been resolved” and continues to threaten U.S. security.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a sanctions advisory and guidance on Oct. 30 about the risks associated with dealing in high-value works of art. The guidance outlines which art markets may present sanctions risks and urges galleries, museums, agents, auctioneers and collectors to maintain a compliance program. OFAC also stressed that transactions involving expensive artwork are “not categorically exempt” from the Berman Amendment to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act. The amendment “generally exempts” imports of art from IEEPA regulations, but OFAC said it does “not interpret this exemption to allow blocked persons or their facilitators to evade sanctions by exchanging financial assets such as cash, gold, or cryptocurrency for high-value artwork or vice versa.” OFAC said it will apply both IEEPA and TWEA sanctions on any art-related dealing involving a blocked person “to the extent the artwork functions primarily as an investment asset or medium of exchange.”
U.S. export controls on foundational technologies would impede U.S. innovation and do little to reduce national security concerns, the Computer and Communications Industry Association said in a letter to the Bureau of Industry and Security. The group urged BIS to construct a “narrowly tailored” export regime or risk stymieing U.S. leadership in a range of technologies.
The Central Bank of Nigeria said it will sanction international shipping and airfreight companies for noncompliance with a 2017 directive related to bills of lading and airway bills, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said Oct. 27. The directive requires all exports to carry “Nigerian Export Proceeds (NXP) form numbers” on their bills, the report said. Nigeria said it recently completed an audit of shipping companies that showed several businesses were not complying with the order, adding that it will impose “severe sanctions” for continued noncompliance, HKTDC reported. The country also plans to issue guidance to help industry better “verify the authenticity of NXP form numbers submitted.”
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced sanctions and trade restrictions on two people for illegally importing protected wildlife, the agency said Oct. 30. Japan said Shigeyuki Koyama and Mamoru Miyata imported 15 live Australian lungfish from Indonesia without the required licenses, according to an unofficial translation of the notice. The fish are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Japan said the two people are now subject to import bans.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs began a review Oct. 28 of a State Department rule that would amend International Traffic in Arms Regulations requirements for certain countries. The proposed rule would modify the ITAR for Tunisia, Eritrea, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, as well as “other changes.” The agency has mentioned the rule in past regulatory agendas (see 2007200005 and 1911250035).
The Democrat who would lead the Finance Committee if the Senate majority changes parties after the election blasted President Donald Trump over labor, auto rules of origin, dairy and biotech export regulations, in a letter that said the benefits promised in renegotiating NAFTA have not been delivered. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in the Oct. 30 letter that “the Administration has yet to bring any enforcement action under either the state-to-state dispute settlement or the new Rapid Response Mechanism despite the persistence of labor violations in Mexico.”
The agency responsible for U.S. financial sanctions lost a record number of employees last year, a trend former officials and industry lawyers say has led to longer processing times and an influx of new officials.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released on Oct. 29 its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The 46 notifications, from April through June, feature arms sales to numerous countries including the United Kingdom, Israel, India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, the Philippines, Italy and Taiwan.