Small and medium-sized companies can apply to attend one of the Australian government's free training seminars on U.S. export controls during March in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, Australia said Jan. 23. The two-day seminars will provide companies with “practical expertise of current best practice” for dealing with technologies controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations, it said. The seminars are open to manufacturers and companies involved in research and development with “immediate intent or actively involved with US technologies subject to these regulations.”
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on a proposal for an information collection that BIS will submit to the Office of Management and Budget, BIS said in a notice. The information collection involves 10 “miscellaneous” activities described in the Export Administration Regulations relating to the exchange of documents among parties in Commerce Department-controlled export transactions. Comments are due Feb. 28.
The European Union renewed sanctions against Tunisia for one year, until Jan. 31, 2021, according to a Jan. 28 notice. The sanctions target 48 people involved in “misappropriation” of public funds, the notice said.
The Council of the European Union sanctioned seven people for participating in the organization of Russian local elections in Ukraine, according to a Jan. 28 press release. The people were sanctioned for undermining the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine and are now subject to asset freezes, the notice said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 21-24 in case you missed them.
United Kingdom businesses and U.S. agricultural exporters want the two countries to sign a comprehensive trade deal rather than continue the Trump administration's recent string of limited phase one deals, industry representatives said. Some stakeholders feel the two countries should capitalize on negotiating a full agreement before the upcoming U.S. presidential election, which could lead to an anti-Brexit Democratic president and stymie negotiations, the representatives said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transported a Kazakhstani national back to his home country after he was convicted of international arms trafficking, ICE said in a Jan. 23 press release. Eldar Rezvanov illegally exported defense articles, including firearms and parts, without the proper licenses, the agency said. Rezvanov and a conspirator used aliases to buy the items and lied on federal forms about the final destinations of the exports, ICE said. They smuggled the items onto overseas flights using “false shipping inventories” and “concealed the disassembled firearm components by taping them to metal kitchen utensils before shipping them overseas.” In 2017, Rezvanov attempted to export 395 firearms parts, 75 magazines, and 20 barrels and slides in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. Later that year, Rezvanov again tried to export a range of defense-related goods -- including seven pistols, nearly 1,000 magazines and 453 firearms parts -- to Chechnya.
More countries will try to operate separately from the U.S. financial system in an attempt to trade without fear of penalties from the U.S.’s wide-ranging sanctions regimes, sanctions experts said. Although some countries have struggled to operate outside the U.S. dollar -- such as Venezuela and Cuba -- better positioned countries may find success in the future, the experts said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a $1.125 million settlement with Eagle Shipping International for 36 violations of U.S. sanctions against Burma, OFAC said in a Jan. 27 notice. The ship management company, which has headquarters in Connecticut, illegally transported “sea sand” for Myawaddy Trading Limited, a company on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, the notice said. Eagle Shipping allegedly provided transportation services from Burma to Singapore for a “land reclamation project” for Myawaddy that involved transactions worth about $1.8 million.
Kosovo plans to pass the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to introduce sanctions against human rights violators, Kosovo’s deputy prime minister said in a Jan. 23 tweet. The measure would impose asset freezes and travel bans on any person or entity sanctioned under the regime. The United Kingdom has said it plans to impose similar sanctions after Brexit (see 2001100046), and Canada has announced plans to build on its human rights sanctions regime (see 1912180034).