The growing complexity of international trade and the increasing use of front companies have made it more difficult to identify end-users and more challenging for enforcement authorities to prosecute illegal exports, according to a December report by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In response, the European Union, and other multistate export regimes, should push for more transparency in penalties for export violations, create a forum for information sharing on national enforcement measures and improve reporting on those measures, the report said. The EU should also adopt “clearer” language on complex export concepts and make “detection, investigation and prosecution” a “key focus” of its industry outreach efforts.
Senegal customs authorities at the Port of Dakar are imposing “severe and unpredictable” fines on cargo shortfalls for bagged and bulk shipments, according to a Dec. 5 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Port authorities are disproportionately sanctioning “substantial shortage or excess of cargo recorded by their own surveyor,” according to a letter sent to the Swedish Club -- a marine insurance company -- by TCI Africa, an independent consultant to the marine insurance sector. The fines have “significantly increased over the last few weeks,” the Oct. 30 letter said. In one instance, a company was fined about $336,000 for mistakes on its cargo manifest, the report said. Dakar customs declarations “should be prepared carefully prior to berthing,” the report said.
The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade issued new and amended open general export licenses and open general trade control licenses to stop new registrations for certain licenses to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, according to a Dec. 5 notice. The DIT is also no longer approving export licenses to Turkey for goods that may have military uses in Syria, the notice said. The changes are in effect “until further notice.”
Japan and South Korea agreed to hold an export control policy dialogue Dec. 16, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Dec. 5. The two countries will discuss “circumstances and challenges” of “critical technology control,” the implementation of both countries' export control system and other topics yet to be announced. The meeting will feature the director general of Japan’s Trade Control Department and the director general of South Korea’s International Trade Policy. The consensus on a meeting date was the result of a “preparatory” meeting held by the two sides Dec. 4 (see 1912040012). The two countries have been locked in a trade dispute (see 1908120036) since July.
The State Department designated Amadou Kouffa a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, according to a notice. Kouffa was previously added to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals List for his involvement with a West African terrorist group (see 1911070035).
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 17 people and seven entities, including Russia-based Evil Corp, for acting as “malicious cyber-enabled actors,” according to a Dec. 5 press release. Evil Corp is a “cybercriminal” organization responsible for the development of Dridex malware, which infects computers to harvest login credentials from “hundreds” of banks in more than 40 countries, leading to more than $100 million in theft, Treasury said. Evil Corp’s actions have caused “millions of dollars of damage” to U.S. and international financial institutions, including their customers, the press release said.
An Iranian businessman was sentenced to 46 months in prison for illegally exporting carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said Nov. 14. Behzad Pourghannad worked with two others between 2008 and 2013 to export the carbon fiber to Iran from third countries using falsified documents and front companies, the agency said.
Australia's parliament announced an inquiry to examine whether the country should adopt sanctions on human rights violations, the parliament said in a Dec. 4 press release. Kevin Andrews, a member of parliament and chair of the government’s Human Rights Subcommittee, said the inquiry will focus on Australia's current sanctions laws, its ability to impose sanctions on foreign actors committing human rights violations, its enforcement methods and a comparison to other jurisdictions to determine whether Australia's sanctions laws can be strengthened.
A Lebanese energy equipment company was fined $368,000 by the Bureau of Industry and Security after it illegally reexported generators to Syria, according to a settlement agreement signed Nov. 27. Ghaddar Machinery allegedly committed 20 violations of the Export Administration Regulations from 2014 to 2016, totaling about $730,000 worth of exports, BIS said. Ghaddar agreed to pay the penalty in five installments through November 2021. Failure to make the payments could result in more penalties, according to the settlement agreement, including a two-year denial of export privileges.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security renewed an export denial order for Mahan Airways because the airline continues to violate the order and the Export Administration Regulations, BIS said in a notice. The Iranian airline has been on the banned list since 2008, and the notice renewed the ban for 180 days, BIS said. Since the order was last renewed June 5 (see 1906060054), the U.S. has discovered that the airline is now operating a U.S.-origin Boeing 747 between Iranian airports in Tehran, Kish Island and Mashhad. The aircraft “appears to be” one of three planes Mahan illegally acquired through Blue Airways of Armenia and United Kingdom-based Balli Group, BIS said. In addition, Mahan was involved in the illegal export of a U.S.-origin atomic absorption spectrometer from the U.S. to Iran via the United Arab Emirates in November. The spectrometer is subject to the EAR, and the export violated the terms of Mahan’s denial order, BIS said.