Canada suspended exports of certain military items to Turkey while Canada investigates whether its technologies are being used in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the country is “concerned by the ongoing conflict” and the possibility of Canadian military technologies being used in the region. “In line with Canada’s robust export control regime and due to the ongoing hostilities, I have suspended the relevant export permits to Turkey, so as to allow time to further assess the situation,” Champagne said in an Oct. 5 statement.
The Census Bureau issued a guidance on Oct. 8 on the mandatory filing requirements outlined in the Bureau of Industry and Security's April rule on military-related exports (see 2006250026). Census said it received a “number” of questions on the rule, which increased due diligence requirements for certain exports to China, Russia and Venezuela and requires certain Electronic Export Information filings for some exports captured under the rule (see 2004270027).
The U.S. needs a “technology-specific” trade policy as it pursues export controls over emerging technologies to limit impacts on industry, the Strategic Trade Research Institute and the University of Maryland Center for International and Security Studies said in a report released Oct. 13. The report analyzes three categories of items that it calls “chokepoint technologies” -- position, navigation and timing (PNT), quantum computing, and computer vision -- and examines the feasibility of trade controls on each category. The report stresses that while some items, including PNT technologies, can be controlled, others, such as computer vision technologies, are widely commercially available and should not be restricted.
The Treasury Department issued updated guidance on Hong Kong-related sanctions and the State Department issued a report to Congress under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, the agencies said Oct. 14.
The United Kingdom on Oct. 13 released its quarterly report on export controls, covering license application decisions and other statistics. The U.K. said it made about 2,800 license decisions on standard individual export licenses from April 1 through June 30, down about 10% from the previous quarter. The U.K. issued more than 98% of the licenses and refused fewer than 2%. For open individual export licenses, the U.K. made decisions on about the same number of licenses as in the previous quarter, approving 68 licenses and rejecting seven.
The European Union renewed its sanctions regime against people and entities involved in developing and using chemical weapons, the European Council said in an Oct. 12 news release. The regime, which applies to nine people and one organization, was renewed for one year until Oct. 16, 2021.
The European Commission launched two online systems to help small and medium-sized companies trade with Iran. The European Union's Due Diligence Helpdesk and Sanctions Tool offer free support for companies doing “legitimate trade” with Iran, the commission said Oct. 6. The help desk will carry out due diligence checks to determine whether “specific business projects comply with EU sanctions,” the commission said, while the sanctions tool provides companies with “non-binding guidance on whether their business projects could fall under EU sanctions concerning Iran.” Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the tools are meant to help “strengthen and facilitate legitimate trade between Iran and the EU.” The U.S. recently invoked snapback sanctions against Iran and criticized EU members for not supporting an arms embargo against the country (see 2009210022).
The Department of the Treasury on Oct. 13 issued a current list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. The list includes Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, unchanged from the previous iteration of the list. Treasury added that it is “monitoring the situation” in the UAE, which has announced that it issued a decree repealing its boycott of Israel. According to a Baker McKenzie Sanctions & Export Controls Update blog post on Sept. 21, while the UAE action “may eventually result in changes to the Commerce Regulations and Treasury Rules to reflect the UAE’s repeal of the boycott, this has not happened yet, and it could be some time before any changes occur.”
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The House Foreign Affairs Committee is reviewing new export controls on items related to semiconductors, potentially including design elements and software, said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. McCaul said some U.S. export restrictions may need to be strengthened to address continuing Chinese attempts to steal U.S. technologies.