Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security banned export privileges for a man who was convicted of illegally exporting gas turbine parts in 2018, Commerce said in a June 28 order. Commerce said the man, Olaf Tepper, violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after he exported parts to Germany that were intended for an end-user in Iran. Tepper did not have the proper export license from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Tepper was sentenced to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine in addition to the export ban, which included revoking all of Tepper’s BIS-related licenses. The ban will last 10 years after his conviction date of Aug. 3, 2018, Commerce said.
The State Department is maintaining a foreign terrorist organization designation on Jundallah, an Iran-based militant organization, according to a notice scheduled to be published July 2 in the Federal Register. The State Department said the circumstances that warranted Jundallah’s original sanctions “have not changed in such a manner as to warrant revocation of the designation.” The State Department is scheduled to publish another notice that lists several new aliases for Jundallah, also known as People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (PMRI), including the Army of God and the Baloch Peoples Resistance Movement.
the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a reminder for all “holders of blocked property” to submit their Annual Report of Blocked Property by Sept. 30, OFAC said in a July 2 notice. The list should contain all blocked property held as of June 30, 2019, the notice said. Blocked property is that which is blocked "pursuant to OFAC regulations." The reports must be filed using OFAC’s new form TD-F 90-22.50, which is available for download in the notice. Those who do not submit required forms are subject to violations in OFAC's Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations.
Instex, the European payment system designed to allow countries to trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions, is now “operational and available” to all European Union member countries and is processing its “first transactions,” according to a United Kingdom press release. The announcement was made by the U.K., France and Germany at a June 28 joint commission meeting on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran.
The Commerce Department will approve more temporary licenses to U.S. exporters selling “general merchandise” to Huawei, U.S. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on CBS and Fox News on June 30, potentially providing relief to both U.S. firms and China’s telecommunications tech giant. Although specific details have not yet been released, Commerce plans to grant export licenses for products that China can easily get from other countries, including “various chips and software,” Kudlow said.
In the June 28 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Nations Security Council is renewing sanctions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until July 1, 2020, it said June 26. The sanctions include trade bans on defense items and asset freezes. The council also extended until Aug. 1, 2020, the mandate of the Group of Experts, which provides reports to the council on the potential of additional or updated sanctions.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Nicolas “Nicolasito” Ernesto Maduro Guerra, the son of Nicolas Maduro, for being a government official of the “illegitimate” Venezuelan Maduro regime, Treasury said in a June 28 press release. Treasury said the younger Maduro is a member of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly, which tries to “rewrite the Venezuelan constitution and dissolve Venezuelan state institutions.”
More than 25 industry associations are asking the Commerce Department to allow more time for public comments on Commerce’s next advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, which is expected in the coming weeks. The associations asked for a 90-day comment and review period in a June 27 letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
A Commerce Department official allayed concerns from the U.S. industry that new export controls on emerging technologies will be overbroad, saying it will only look to control a "slice" of categories of technologies, not whole classifications.