President Donald Trump’s executive order ending preferential treatment for Hong Kong details a range of sanctions authorities and export bans but includes a carve-out for certain defense exports authorized before the order was issued. The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a July 15 guidance to clarify the new restrictions and answer industry questions.
The Commerce Department’s long-awaited proposed regulations on routed export transactions may not be issued until next year, a Census Bureau official said. Both Census and the Bureau of Industry and Security have been working closely on the rule but have struggled to pinpoint a release date. “I thought it would happen this year, but I'm going to go with probably 2021,” Kiesha Downs, chief of Census’ Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch, said during a July 15 webinar hosted by Census. “It's just a matter of ironing out a couple more things.”
China criticized the Trump administration’s Xinjiang business advisory (see 2007010040) issued earlier this month, saying the guidance “seriously distorts the facts” and threatens to damage cooperation between U.S. and Chinese industries. The guidance -- which outlined export control, sanctions and forced labor risks for U.S. companies doing business in China’s Xinjiang region -- “undermines the stability of the global supply chain,” a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson said July 14, according to an unofficial translation of a press release about a reporter's question on the topic. “This is bad for China, bad for the United States, and bad for the whole world,” the spokesperson said. “China will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”
The U.S. and Japan expanded their organic trade arrangement to include livestock products, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said July 14. The move will reduce costs and streamline processes for U.S. exporters involved in organic livestock supply chains by requiring only one organic certification, the USTR said.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation corrected 49 entries in its Libya sanctions regime, a July 14 notice said. The U.K. revised identifying information for each of the entries to bring them “into line” with European Union sanctions.
China will sanction Lockheed Martin for its involvement in a $620 million arms sale to Taiwan (see 2007090078), China’s Foreign Ministry said July 14, according to an unofficial translation of the transcript of a press conference. A ministry spokesperson called on the U.S. to stop the sale, which includes the recertification of advanced missiles to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. “In order to safeguard national interests, China decided to take necessary measures to impose sanctions on Lockheed Martin, the main contractor in this arms sales case,” the spokesperson said, adding that further military sales will “damage” U.S.-China relations.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 6-10 in case you missed them.
The Commerce Department published its spring 2020 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agenda includes a new mention of a rule to control “software” for the operation of “automated nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers” capable of designing and building “functional genetic elements from digital sequence data.” BIS said the software can be used in the production of pathogens and toxins, with the potential for those to make their way into biological weapons if export controls on the software are lacking. The notice of proposed rulemaking, part of BIS’ effort to control emerging and foundational technologies (see 2005190052), will request industry comments about how the controls might affect “legitimate commercial or scientific applications.” BIS said it aims to issue the proposed rule this month.
Guidepost Solutions added Robert Roach, previously chief global compliance officer at New York University, as senior adviser, the company said in a news release. “Roach will help develop compliance, risk management and monitoring programs for both domestic and international organizations,” the company said. “He brings particular expertise in several complex regulatory areas including export control and trade sanctions laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other international anti-bribery laws, higher education and research compliance laws, equal opportunity laws, supply chain ethics and international fair labor standards compliance.”
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on July 10 removed five entries and amended one entry under four sanctions regimes. The U.K. removed from its sanctions lists Ri Pyong Chol, North Korea; Fahd Jasim Al-Furayj, Syria; Col. Mas’ud Abdulhafiz, Libya; and Robert Kibelisa and Lambert Mende, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The U.K. also revised an entry for Ahmed Al-Jarroucheh under its Syria sanctions.