There are “significant gaps” in private sector knowledge on North Korea and Iran sanctions compliance and implementation, according to a Feb. 6 report by the Royal United Services Institute and the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. The report, based on more than 350 responses to a survey sent to the finance industry, shows that large, international banks have a greater grasp of sanctions compliance than local and national banks, which are more often “being exploited” by proliferators. The report also said that U.S. banks are most vulnerable to proliferation risks from Iran and that “few banks” consult the United Nations Panel of Experts reports on North Korea.
Traders who use the “batch submission process” to send license information to the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls need to receive the latest version of the client software from OCR Services before the Defense Export Control and Compliance System is launched, the DDTC said Feb. 13. The updated client version contains “necessary revisions” for submitting in batch, the DDTC said. DECCS will launch Feb. 18 (see 2002040060).
The Pentagon will “likely” support new U.S. restrictions on foreign sales to Huawei, a reversal of its objection to a proposed rule considered by the Commerce Department earlier this year (see 2001240012), according to a Feb. 12 Reuters report. Reuters said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently called Defense Secretary Mark Esper to discuss the rule and the two planned a meeting for next week. The rule would have lowered the U.S.-origin threshold on exports to Huawei to 10 percent, but required the State, Commerce, Defense and Energy departments to approve with input from the Treasury. Trump administration officials plan to meet this month in an attempt to resolve differences over the rule and technology exports to Huawei, and may discuss expanding Commerce’s export control jurisdiction beyond Huawei (see 2002050047).
The Commerce Department withdrew a rule that was expected to impose controls on exports of field effect transistor technology (see 1912170031), according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget. The “Gate-All-Around Field Effect Transistor (GAAFET) Technology” rule, which was sent to OIRA in November and withdrawn Feb. 11, was expected to be one of six rules issued by Commerce early this year (see 1912160032) as part of the agency’s effort to control emerging technologies. Commerce has faced delays while trying to release the rules, which officials expected to be issued by now (see 2002040057). So far, Commerce has issued one rule in the vein of emerging technologies: a January interim final rule to control geospatial imagery software (see 2001030024).
Huawei and four of its subsidiaries -- including two U.S. companies -- were charged with racketeering and conspiracy to steal trade secrets as part of a decadeslong scheme to steal U.S. technology, the Justice Department said Feb. 13. The indictment charges Huawei, Huawei Device Co., Huawei Device USA Inc., Futurewei Technologies Inc. and Skycom Tech Co., and Wanzhou Meng, Huawei’s chief financial officer, with attempts to steal intellectual property, including from six U.S. companies. The stolen property includes trade secret information, source codes, antenna technology and robot testing technology, the Justice Department said, all obtained after Huawei told and incentivized employees to steal confidential information from other companies.
In the Feb. 7-12 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Kingdom has “confirmed plans” to put in place customs controls on Dec. 31 for goods traded between the U.K. and the European Union, according to a Feb. 10 press release from U.K. Cabinet Office member Michael Gove. “The UK will be outside the single market and outside the customs union, so we will have to be ready for the customs procedures and regulatory checks that will inevitably follow,” Gove said.
The State Department recently held a ship registry management and compliance standards symposium in Washington, D.C., to share recommendations to counter North Korean evasion of sanctions in the maritime arena, the agency said Feb. 11. The symposium gathered representatives from international ship registries, classification societies, foreign governments and industry to improve due diligence and inter-industry communications to stop Illegal North Korean shipping practices. The United Nations is expected to release a report next month alleging that North Korea continued to violate international sanctions last year -- specifically through illegal ship-to-ship transfers -- with China’s help (see 2002110016).
Kuwait Airways Corp. was fined $700,000 as part of a settlement agreement with the Commerce Department after the corporation violated the Export Administration Regulations through antiboycott violations, Commerce said in an order released this month. The company, based in New Jersey, committed 14 violations of the EAR when it complied with an “unsanctioned foreign boycott” by refusing to accept passengers with Israeli passports. Commerce said it will suspend $100,000 of the fine if Kuwait Airways does not commit another violation of the Export Control Reform Act or of the EAR within the next three years, if it pays the remainder of the fine on time, and if it complies with the terms of the settlement. If the airline does not comply with the settlement, BIS may revoke the airline’s export privileges for one year and revoke the corporation’s current export licenses and exceptions.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control removed more than 30 terrorism-related entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List, according to a Feb. 12 notice. The entries include entities relating to Al-Barakat, which was sanctioned by OFAC in 2001. Treasury did not immediately release more information.