The U.S. will soon trigger snapback sanctions under the Iran nuclear deal after the United Nations Security Council rejected the U.S.’s attempt to extend the Iranian arms embargo (see 2008170017), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Speaking during an Aug. 19 press conference, Pompeo said the U.S. expects the sanctions to be enforced even as other U.N. members question whether the U.S. has the authority to invoke the sanctions (see 2007010030 and 2006090047). “The president has made clear we’re going to do that soon, and we will,” Pompeo said. “We have every expectation that they’ll be enforced just like every other U.N. Security Council resolution that is in place.”
Flir Systems, a U.S.-based producer of thermal imaging cameras, is being investigated for possible export control violations, the company said in an Aug. 6 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Flir said it voluntarily disclosed the potential violations to the State, Commerce and Justice departments in 2017.
The European Union and the United Kingdom plan to sanction Belarusian authorities for their violence against peaceful protesters after the country’s presidential elections earlier this month. The EU is working on “new listings for sanctions against those responsible for violence,” Josep Borrell, EU’s foreign policy chief, said Aug. 18. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the EU needs to conduct an “independent investigation” into Belarus’ elections. “The UK will work with our international partners to sanction those responsible, and hold the Belarusian authorities to account,” Raab said. Borrell said EU heads of state will discuss sanctions actions during an Aug. 19 meeting.
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The Department of Justice’s recent changes to its voluntary disclosure policies (see 1912130047) could lead to complications for companies and were met with backlash from other enforcement agencies, said Robert Clifton Burns, an export control lawyer with Crowell & Moring. The guidance, which outlined benefits for companies that disclose export control and sanctions penalties, can be interpreted as saying industry should first submit their voluntary disclosures to the Justice Department instead of to other agencies, Burns said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service issued a report on Aug. 14 about the European Union’s import controls for certain agricultural goods. It details the EU’s “extensive” control regimes for food items, including pre-export check requirements and special conditions for entry.
The United Nations Security Council on Aug. 14 rejected a U.S. resolution to extend the Iranian arms embargo, raising the possibility of the U.S. invoking snapback sanctions under the Iran nuclear deal. Only the U.S. and the Dominican Republic voted in favor. Russia and China voted against; 11 members abstained, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom. All three previously said they would support an extension of the arms embargo (see 2006220020), which is scheduled to expire in October.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four people in Uganda for their involvement in an adoption scam, an Aug. 17 news release said. OFAC said the people visited “vulnerable” families in remote villages and promised to take their children to receive an education but instead offered them for adoption to U.S. visitors. OFAC sanctioned two Ugandan judges, Moses Mukiibi and Wilson Musalu Musene; Ugandan lawyer Dorah Mirembe; and Mirembe’s husband, Patrick Ecobu, for carrying out the scheme. Mirembe and Ecobu allegedly bribed the two judges and other Ugandan officials to carry out the adoptions in Ugandan courts.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 17 added 38 Huawei affiliates to the Entity List and refined a May amendment to its foreign direct product rule, further restricting Huawei’s access to U.S. technology, the agency said in an Aug. 17 final rule. BIS also modified four existing Huawei entries on the Entity List, amended language in the Export Administration Regulations and said it will continue one cybersecurity-related authorization under its temporary general license for Huawei. The remainder of the license expired Aug. 13.
The White House announced a one-year extension of a national emergency that authorizes U.S. export control regulations, according to an Aug. 13 notice. The move renewed the authority authorized in a 2001 executive order on the continuation of U.S. export controls. The emergency declaration was to expire Aug. 17, 2020.