The Commerce Department released its final rule for transferring export controls of firearms, ammunition and other defense items from the State Department to Commerce. The rule revises the Export Administration Regulations to transfer items that no longer “warrant control” on the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List. The rule will be published alongside a final rule from the State Department, which details the changes made to Categories I, II and II of the USML and describes “more precisely” the items that warrant “export or temporary import control” on the USML. The rules, which have been highly anticipated by the firearms industry (see 1908130066), will be published Jan. 23 and take effect March 9.
The Commerce Department issued a Jan. 15 order temporarily denying export privileges for five people and five companies for involvement in an international procurement scheme to illegally export U.S. items to Pakistan. The scheme, announced in an indictment recently released by the Justice Department (see 2001150040), involved Muhammad Kamran Wali of Pakistan, Muhammad Ahsan Wali and Haji Wali Muhammad Sheikh of Canada, Ashraf Khan Muhammad of Hong Kong and Ahmed Waheed of the United Kingdom. It also involved Business World of Pakistan, Buziness World of Canada, Business World of Hong Kong, Hong Kong-based Industria Hong Kong Ltd. and Pakistan-based Product Engineering. The scheme involved attempts to export items to Pakistan’s Advanced Engineering Research Organization (AERO) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), both of which are on the Entity List. The order denies their export privileges for 180 days from Jan. 15.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control clarified that people and companies involved in recently sanctioned Iranian sectors have a 90-day wind-down period, according to a frequently asked question issued Jan. 16. The wind-down period pertains to the sanctions and executive order recently announced by the Trump administration that authorizes new measures against the country’s construction, mining, manufacturing, and textiles sectors (see 2001100050). Entering into new business that would be considered sanctionable under the executive order after Jan. 10 will not be considered wind-down activity, the FAQ says. That activity may be subject to sanctions “even during the wind-down period.” The wind-down period expires April 9.
The Commerce Department is close to publishing a rule that will expand its authority to block shipments of foreign made goods to Huawei, according to a Jan. 14 Reuters report. The rule would lower the U.S.-origin threshold on exports to Huawei to 10 percent, Reuters said, and expand the purview to include “non-technical goods like consumer electronics” and “non-sensitive chips.” Commerce sent the rule to the Office of Management and Budget after an interagency meeting last week, the report said. A top Commerce official recently confirmed the agency was considering a range of expanded restrictions of foreign exports to Huawei, including changes to the Direct Product Rule and a broadened de minimis level (see 1912100033).
Akin Gump hired Hagir Elawad, previously legislative affairs director for the United Arab Emirates Embassy in the U.S., as a senior policy advisor in the firm's international trade practice, it said in a news release. While at the embassy, she worked on “a wide array of issues, including sanctions, export controls, aviation and aerospace, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States matters,” the firm said.
GunUniversity.com posted a copy of a document that it says is the Commerce Department’s final rule for the transfer of export controls of firearms, ammunition and defense items from the State Department to Commerce. In a Jan. 14 post, the website said the rule will be published this week. The National Shooting Sports Foundation also expected the rule to be published this week (see 2001140043) and has called it the top concern of the gun industry (see 1908130066). Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has said he will block any attempt to transfer the controls from the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List unless the administration abides by certain requests, including informing the Senate of certain licensed exports (see 1912160057). Commerce did not comment on the document’s authenticity.
The State Department rescinded statutory debarments for three people and two entities that previously pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act, but did not reinstate their export privileges, according to a notice in the Federal Register. The agency rescinded debarments for Jami Siraj Choudhury, David Michael Janowski II, Netria Corporation, Jonathan Robert Reynolds and State Metal Industries after each requested reinstatement. The State Department said each party took “appropriate steps to address the causes of the violations sufficient to warrant rescission of their respective notice of statutory debarment.” But the agency also said the notice does not reinstate their export privileges, adding that it no longer requires export privileges to be reinstated before a debarment is rescinded. “This change in policy recognizes that the circumstances warranting statutory debarment may be different from those warranting the revocation of export privileges,” the State Department said. The policy change was announced in March (see 1903120050).
Five men were indicted for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Powers Act and the Export Control Reform Act by trying to illegally export items to Pakistan, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 15 press release. The men -- Muhammad Kamran Wali of Pakistan, Muhammad Ahsan Wali and Haji Wali Muhammad Sheikh of Canada, Ashraf Khan Muhammad of Hong Kong, and Ahmed Waheed of the United Kingdom -- used a network of front companies to export the goods to Pakistan’s Advanced Engineering Research Organization (AERO) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementations introduced a sanctions regime on Belarus for human rights violations and to “encourage” the government to “respect democratic principles and institutions,” the OFSI said in a Jan. 15 notice. The U.K. also released an explanatory memorandum about the sanctions and guidance, and will eventually release a list of people sanctioned under the regulations. The measures include assets freezes, trade prohibitions and criminal penalties for violations of the sanctions, including fines and prison sentences. License exceptions are available for “certain circumstances,” including “acts done for the purpose of national security,” “prior obligations,” “extraordinary situations” and more.
The State Department sanctioned Moldovan official and oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc for corruption, the State Department said Jan. 13. The agency also sanctioned Plahotniuc’s family members, including his wife, Oxana Childescu, son, Timofei Plahotniuc, and his minor child.