The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold an April 16 webinar on tips and tricks for using the Defense Export Control and Compliance System (see 2002190025), DDTC said April 8. The webinar will include commonly asked questions, a best-practices discussion and a question-and-answer session. The webinar will also cover updates to the DECCS enrollment process, registration renewal procedures, setting up license groups and signing a license as an empowered official.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice. The notice includes a table detailing the existing and new maximum penalty amounts.
Cuba was unable to receive a recent shipment of medical supplies due to U.S. sanctions, according to an April 3 press release from Cuba’s ambassador to China. Cuba said a U.S. transport company hired to make the delivery on behalf of a donor rejected the shipment “at the last minute” due to “the economic, commercial, and financial blockade” against Cuba. Cuba said the shipment, organized by Chinese businessman Jack Ma, would have included a donation of ventilators, gloves and other personal protective equipment to combat the coronavirus. The White House did not comment.
The U.S. is restricting exports of certain personal protective equipment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a notice scheduled for Federal Register publication on April 10. The restrictions, which took effect April 7 and will last 120 days after publication, apply to certain respirators, masks and gloves, FEMA said.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls revised two frequently asked questions regarding U.S. persons abroad who request authorizations for exporting controlled defense services (see 2002200028), the agency said April 6. The first FAQ applies to situations in which a person’s employment for a foreign company qualifies as a defense services export, and the second FAQ addresses whether U.S. exporters will be granted a “safe harbor” period if they request authorization for exports of defense services they are performing without a license.
Mexico's undersecretary for foreign trade said July 1 is the earliest the new NAFTA could go into effect, but also suggested that an August or September date of entry into force would be fine. Luz Maria de la Mora spoke on a webinar hosted by the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute on April 7.
The Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control’s April 6 sanctions targeted a white supremacist group and its three leaders (see 2004060050), the State Department said April 6, announcing its own designation of the Russian Imperial Movement as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The sanctions against RIM marked the “first time the United States has ever designated foreign white supremacist terrorists,” State said. The group provides paramilitary-style training to Neo-Nazis and white supremacist, the agency said.
Sanctions should not hinder the delivery of virus-fighting supplies to countries in need, European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell said April 3. Borrell said both the European Union and United Nations sanctions list humanitarian exemptions, stressing that the EU will “ensure that these sanctions do not obstruct the global fight against COVID-19.” But he also said sanctions “continue to play an indispensable role in countering breaches of international law.” Borrell said the EU “encourages other jurisdictions” to clarify that their sanctions “are no obstacle to the global fight against the pandemic.”
The United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care issued an April 6 guidance on the European Union’s export restrictions on personal protective equipment. The guidance lists what goods are covered under the restrictions, how exporters can apply for a license and how the U.K. determines license decisions. When reviewing a license application, the U.K. said it will consider whether the export will threaten the need for PPE within the U.K. and the EU, whether it will satisfy a “legitimate need” in the destination country, and whether the export will fulfill “one or more of the purposes set out” in the export control legislation.
Export controls on masks used by medical workers -- an idea that had been floated (see 2004030063) -- have been averted, 3M announced the evening of April 6. The multinational company is producing 35 million masks a month in the U.S., and the president had said none of that production should be exported to Canada and Latin America, major recipients of that output. But now, the administration will address U.S. regulatory restrictions that prevented some Chinese masks from being used for medical workers, and 3M will import 166.5 million N95 masks, mostly from its China plant, over the next three months, the company said. “The plan will also enable 3M to continue sending U.S. produced respirators to Canada and Latin America, where 3M is the primary source of supply,” the press release noted.