Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 30 - April 3 in case you missed them.
The U.S. should expand the scope of humanitarian license exceptions for exports to Iran and add staffing within the Treasury Department to speed up the licensing process, members of the European Leadership Network and The Iran Project said April 6. The statement, signed by 25 former U.S. and European government officials, also said the U.S. needs to do more to assure companies, banks and organizations they will not be targeted for exporting humanitarian items to Iran. The letter follows similar calls by U.S. lawmakers, who said sanctions are hindering life-saving exports to Iran (see 2004010019).
Technology and semiconductor trade groups are objecting to increased export restrictions under consideration by the Trump administration, saying the controls could lead to industry uncertainty with significant impacts on semiconductor companies. In an April 6 letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the groups urged the administration to request industry input before finalizing the rule, which reportedly includes three measures to tighten restrictions on China’s ability to obtain advanced U.S. technology (see 2004020012).
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed sanctions from an entry on the ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list, according to an April 6 notice. An asset freeze will no longer apply to Ibrahim Mohamed Khalil.
The European Union updated its sanctions regime against Yemen, according to an April 3 notice. The update clarifies what constitutes a sanctionable act and provides details relating to humanitarian exemptions.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added three Russian nationals and one Russian entity to its Specially Designated Nationals List, OFAC said in an April 6 notice. The sanctions target Denis Valiullovich Gariyev, Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev and the Russian Imperial Movement. OFAC did not immediately release more information on the designations.
Another United Nations official called for global sanctions to be lifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying sanctions are impacting health care systems, according to an April 3 press release. Sanctions should be removed until the virus has subsided, said Alena Douhan, a UN human rights official, adding that countries should “immediately” withdraw all trade barriers and ban tariffs, quotas and non-tariff measures. "Sanctioned countries are especially hard-hit as they cannot use their revenues to purchase imports of equipment, medicines, antiviral and food from global markets," she said. Other UN officials have issued similar statements (see 2004030020 and 2003250010).
CBP removed several exemptions from the Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements due to the recent transfer of gun export controls from the State Department to the Commerce Department (see 2001170030), CBP said in an April 6 CSMS message. The update removes firearms exemptions related to certain exports to Canada, temporary exports and more.
The Federal Aviation Administration does not independently vet civil aircraft registrations, which could lead to a host of sanctions related risks, according to a March report from the Government Accountability Office. In at least one case, the FAA allowed a sanctioned Venezuelan drug trafficker to obtain a dealer certificate, which gave his front company access to blocked planes for more than a year, the GAO said. FAA officials said they do not have the required authorities to address sanctions issues, but the GAO pointed to a lack of coordination between FAA and the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and a flawed FAA registration system.
The Commerce Department is seeking comments on an information collection related to the five-year record retention requirement for export transactions and boycott actions, the agency said in a notice. The retention requirement applies to all parties involved in the export, re-export, transshipment or diversion of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and involved in a reportable boycott request. Comments are due June 5.