The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control removed a general license for certain Zimbabwean entities because they are no longer subject to sanctions, according to a notice. The move removes a license that authorized transactions with the Agricultural Development Bank of Zimbabwe and Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, both of which were removed from Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List in 2016, the notice said. OFAC also updated the “authorities citation” of the Zimbabwe Sanctions regulations “to shorten citations to conform with Federal Register guidance.”
AT&T closed its DirecTV operations in Venezuela due to U.S. sanctions, the company said May 19. AT&T said U.S. sanctions block the broadcast of “Globovision and PDVSA’s channels, both of which are required under DIRECTV’s license to provide pay TV service in Venezuela.” The company said its U.S. leadership closed its Venezuelan operations “because it is impossible for AT&T’s DIRECTV unit to comply with the legal requirements of both countries.”
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs began an interagency review for a final rule from the Commerce Department that will implement certain export control decisions from the 2018 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary. The rule, received by OIRA May 20, will also make “other revisions related to national security controls.” During a May 19 Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee meeting, Commerce officials said the agency is preparing to issue several emerging technology controls within weeks (see 2005190052).
The Trump administration is still considering sanctioning India over purchases of Russian missile defense systems, a top State Department official said. Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said there remains widespread support both within the administration and in Congress for sanctioning buyers of Russian military goods, adding that India needs to choose either U.S. or Russian military equipment, but cannot have both.
China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S.’s May 19 decision to sanction a Chinese company for providing logistics services to an Iranian airline. A ministry spokesperson said “mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation” with Iran should be “respected” and urged the U.S. to revoke the sanctions. “I want to stress that at the crucial moment when the international community is mounting a joint fight against COVID-19, the U.S. practice of unilateralism and maximum pressure runs counter to the concerted international efforts against the pandemic and seriously violates humanitarianism.” the spokesperson said. The U.S. sanctioned China-based Shanghai Saint Logistics Limited for acting as a general sales agent for Mahan Air (see 2005190020).
Export licenses are not required to ship defense products to Puerto Rico, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said in a frequently-asked-question released May 19. The DDTC also stressed that licenses are not needed for defense exports to American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “No export occurs when a defense article is shipped to Puerto Rico,” DDTC said. “Therefore, no export license or other approval from DDTC is required.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order May 19 to provide “regulatory relief” for companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing that agencies should be fair when issuing enforcement decisions. Government agencies should modify, waive or provide exemptions for any regulations “that may inhibit economic recovery,” the order states, adding that agencies should abide by “principles of fairness.” The order emphasizes that agencies “bear the burden” of proving alleged violations of regulations and says enforcement actions should be “prompt and fair.” Penalties for violations should be “proportionate” and transparent, the order says, and liability for violations should be imposed “only for violations of statutes or duly issued regulations” with an opportunity for the penalized party to respond. “Agencies must be accountable for their administrative enforcement decisions,” the order says. The order says it does not apply to national security or homeland security functions of the U.S., except for “procurement actions and actions involving the import or export of non-defense articles and services.”
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation submitted its quarterly report to Parliament on its asset-freezing regime, OFSI said May 19. The report provides details of U.K. sanctions actions from October through December, including data on total funds frozen, new designations, delistings, renewals, licensing and more.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iranian officials and a group controlled by the country’s law enforcement authority for human rights abuses, Treasury said May 20. The designations target Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran’s interior minister, seven senior officials of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The sanctions also target the LEF Cooperative Foundation -- an “economic collaborative” controlled by the LEF -- along with its director and board of trustees.
The Treasury Department issued a proposed rule to modify mandatory declaration requirements for certain transactions involving critical technologies. Under the rule, transactions would require a declaration if the critical technology would normally be subject to a U.S. export license. This would be a change from certain declaration requirements for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. outlined under a 2018 pilot program, which based those decisions on whether the transactions met criteria established by the North American Industry Classification System.