The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 10 dismissed FedEx’s lawsuit against the Bureau of Industry and Security (see 1906250030), saying the shipping company failed to show that BIS was acting outside the authority of the Export Administration Regulations. The court also disagreed with FedEx’s claims that the agency was using the EAR to apply overly burdensome liability standards on carriers and impose penalties even when carriers do not have knowledge of violations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should impose targeted export controls on specific facial recognition software but take care not to restrict the entire technology category, some of which can be used for benign purposes, IBM said. While some technologies are “clear use-cases that must be off limits” for export, such as artificial intelligence-powered software used for mass surveillance and human rights abuses, other technologies are safe for everyday uses, the company said.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Sept. 9 renewed two designations under its terrorism and terrorist financing sanctions regime. OFSI renewed the designations for Colombia's Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (National Liberation Army) and Peru's Communist Party, Sendero Luminoso, also known as Shining Path.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation corrected an entry under its sanctions for Guinea-Bissau, OFSI said Sept. 9. The correction amends the entry for Col. Tomas Djassi, commander of Guinea-Bissau’s National Guard. Djassi remains subject to an asset freeze.
The European Union extended by six months sanctions against people and entities threatening the independence of Ukraine, the European Council said Sept. 10. Now expiring March 15, the sanctions continue to impose travel restrictions and asset freezes on 175 people and 44 entities.
Germany's Freie Demokraten Party introduced a motion in the Bundestag to impose sanctions on human rights abusers, the EU Sanctions blog reported Sept. 9. The sanctions would be modeled after the Global Magnitsky Sanctions and would target those responsible for “political murders, torture and mistreatment,” the party said Sept. 9, according to an unofficial translation of a press release. The FDP said it wants to create a sanctions regime that can target individual human rights abusers instead of a whole country or “entire society,” which could “worsen the human rights situation.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 10 designated a member of the Ukrainian parliament and three employees of the sanctioned Internet Research Agency for helping Russia interfere in U.S. elections. The sanctions target Andrii Derkach, a parliament member said to be a Russian agent who helped create “false and unsubstantiated narratives” about U.S. officials ahead of the 2020 presidential election, OFAC said. The agency also sanctioned IRA employees and Russian nationals Artem Lifshits, Anton Andreyev and Darya Aslanova, who helped support IRA cryptocurrency accounts.
President Donald Trump renewed Cuban trade sanctions authorized under the Trading With the Enemy Act for one year, until Sept. 14, 2021, a Sept. 9 White House memorandum said. The act authorizes sanctions under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added, revised and made technical changes to export controls in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement changes under the 2018 Wassenaar Arrangement (see 2007220015). Per a final rule released Sept. 10, BIS revised 28 Export Control Classification Numbers, altered license exceptions for four ECCNs, made technical changes to eight ECCNs and created one new ECCN for certain masks and reticles used for sensors. The rule follows a May 2019 rule that added controls to five technologies under the 2018 Wassenaar (see 1905220051).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 10 dismissed FedEx’s June 24 lawsuit against the Bureau of Industry and Security, saying the company failed to show that BIS was acting outside the authority of the Export Administration Regulations. The court also disagreed with FedEx’s claims that the agency was using the EAR to apply overly burdensome liability standards on carriers and impose penalties even when carriers do not have knowledge of violations.