The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two Iran-related frequently asked questions to address its Dec. 11 designations of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and E-Sail Shipping Limited (see 1912110024). In FAQ 810, OFAC said the two entities are also subject to prohibitions under the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations due to their designation by the State Department. In FAQ 811, OFAC specified that license exceptions for exports of food, medicine and other humanitarian items generally do not apply to parties sanctioned for weapons proliferation activities. U.S. exporters will not be able to ship “agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices” to IRISL and E-Sail, OFAC said. Exporters who ship those items “risk exposure to sanctions under additional authorities.” To avoid risks, U.S. exporters should make sure sales of those goods are completed no later than June 8, 2020, when the designations take effect, OFAC said.
A Hong Kong-based appliance maker said its subsidiary may have violated U.S. sanctions, according to its global offering released Dec. 9. JS Global Lifestyle Company said its subsidiary, U.S.-based SharkNinja Operating LLC, “engaged in a wire transfer” for a shipment on an Iran-flagged ship operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line, the company said. The transfer may be deemed a violation of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions regulations and the company may be subject to a civil monetary penalty. The company said it is “committed to ensuring our compliances with relevant economic sanctions laws” and preventing a future violation, but said it will not “always be able to do so, for factors beyond our control or otherwise.”
Member nations adopted “a number of” new export controls at the Wassenaar Arrangement’s plenary session earlier this month, with a focus on “proliferation-sensitive exports,” according to a Dec. 6 statement released by the plenary chair. They also updated a 2007 guidance for exports of small arms and light weapons and amended a guidance for export controls on the disposal of surplus or demilitarized military equipment. The member states also released a summary of the changes made to multilateral export controls of dual-use goods and technologies. A 243-page report describes the list of dual-use goods and technologies discussed during the meetings.
About a year into the Trump administration's maximum pressure sanctions campaign on Iran, the effort has done nothing to bring Iran to the negotiating table, panelists said during a Dec. 12 Atlantic Council event. U.S. sanctions have instead emboldened a more aggressive Iran, panelists said, which is growing increasingly frustrated with its unwilling European trade partners and will likely continue breaching the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Intel named Jeff Rittener chief government affairs officer and general manager of the company's Governments, Markets and Trade group, Intel said in a Dec. 10 news release. “In this role, Rittener is responsible for overseeing the company’s global government affairs efforts and the worldwide team of trade professionals responsible for ensuring the company’s full compliance with U.S. and other government regulations in the areas of export, customs and sanctions,” the company said. Rittener currently represents Intel on the Commerce Department Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on an information collection used to respond to congressional and industry requests to make “foreign availability determinations” about the Export Administration Regulations, according to a notice. In the information collection, exporters are urged to submit data to “support the contention” that items controlled for national security reasons are “available-in-fact, from a non-U.S. source, in sufficient quantity and of comparable quality so as to render the control ineffective.” Comments are due Feb. 10.
A bipartisan bill aimed at sanctioning fentanyl traffickers will be included in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act expected to pass early next week, according to a Dec. 11 press release from Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark. The bill was passed in the Senate in June as part of the must-pass defense authorization bill (see 1906270054). In addition to sanctioning Chinese and other fentanyl traffickers, the Fentanyl Sanctions Act would urge the Trump administration to pursue multilateral sanctions with U.S. partners and to create a commission to report on how to better control shipments of synthetic opioids.
The State Department sanctioned Saudi and Chechen government officials for human rights violations, the agency said Dec. 10. The targets include Mohammed al Otaibi, former consul general of Saudi Arabia in Turkey, and Aslan Iraskhanov, head of the Ministry of Interior Affairs for the city of Grozny in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation.
The State Department sanctioned two former Paraguayan government officials due to “significant corruption,” the State Department said Dec. 10. The agency’s sanctions targeted former president of Paraguay’s judicial disciplinary board and senator Oscar Gonzalez Daher and former attorney general Javier Diaz Veron. Also sanctioned were Daher’s immediate family (Nelida Chaves de Gonzalez, Oscar Ruben Gonzalez Chaves and Maria Gonzalez Chaves) and Veron’s family (Maria Selva Morinigo, Yeruti Diaz Morinigo, Manuel Diaz Morinigo, Alejandro Diaz Morinigo and Veron’s minor child).
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned an Iranian shipping network, its leader and three Mahan Air sales agents, Treasury said in a Dec. 11 press release. The shipping network illegally smuggled “lethal aid” from Iran to Yemen on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, Treasury said, and the three sales agents, based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, were targeted for working for a sanctioned Iranian airline.