The United Kingdom’s House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published a June 12 report rebuking the UK’s current sanctions policy, calling it “fragmented and incoherent.” The report called on the U.K.’s National Security Council “to begin an urgent review” of the country’s sanctions strategy and to report findings to Parliament by the end of 2019.
China appears to be formally laying the groundwork for export restrictions on rare earths, after previously only hinting in state media reports that they could be used to counter U.S. trade restrictions, according to an emailed update from the China-based consultancy Trivium. Citing a report from China's state-run Xinhua news service, Trivium said three Chinese ministries sent out survey teams June 10 to gather input from rare earths producers in several provinces. That follows three recent China National Development and Reform Commission symposiums where experts called for stricter export controls on rare earths, Trivium said. Though the survey was aimed at gathering “suggestions on how to improve protection and value of rare earths,” they also sought input on “further exerting the strategic value of rare earths and other resources,” according to an unofficial translation of the Xinhua report. The surveys signal that “Beijing is no longer hinting that it has the rare earths card at its disposal,” Trivium said. “Authorities have moved forward, and are seriously looking into the details of how exactly to implement export controls,” Trivium said. “Specifically, they are trying to understand how to minimize any negative impact on the domestic industry while maximizing external leverage.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iraq-based South Wealth Resources Company (SWRC), the “financial conduit” for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps-Qods Force, Treasury said in a June 12 press release. Treasury said SWRC has trafficked “hundreds of millions of dollars” in weapons to Iraqi militias. OFAC also sanctioned two SWRC associates, Makki Kazim ‘Abd Al Hamid Al Asadi and Mohammed Hussein Salih Al Hasani, for facilitating the IRGC’s access to Iraq’s financial system to evade U.S. sanctions. SWRC and its two associates are being sanctioned as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, the press release said.
Bipartisan members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee criticized the Trump administration’s emergency decision to sell millions of dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries, with the committee's top-ranking Democrat promising to explore “every possible avenue” to block the sales.
Instex, the European payment system designed to allow countries to trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions, will be ready soon, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in Iran, according to multiple reports and a June 10 German Foreign Office press release. Maas recently met with Iran officials, the foreign office said, and underscored Europe’s support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Meeting with reporters in Tehran, Maas said that “all the formal requirements are in place now,” to use Instex, according to reports, “and so I’m assuming we’ll be ready to use it in the foreseeable future.” The announcement comes about a week after the Trump administration sent a warning to Europe that sanctions will be imposed on anyone associated with Instex (see 1905300035). The German Foreign Office was critical of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Iran deal and its decision “not to extend exemptions for oil exports and non proliferation projects,” the press release said. “Germany and the other parties support the preservation of the JCPoA as a safeguard for greater stability and security in the region,” it said.
The State Department is upholding a Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for Shining Path, a narcotics-trafficking group based in Peru, State said in a notice scheduled to be published June 12 in the Federal Register. Circumstances surrounding the group’s designation have not changed and there is no reason to revoke the designation, the notice said. Shining Path was sanctioned in 2015 for operating as a terrorist group committed to the overthrow of Peru’s government, OFAC said in a press release at the time.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 3-7 in case they were missed.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign assets Control sanctioned 16 people and entities, including Syrian oligarch Samer Foz, to cut off “critical supplies and financiers” for Syria's “luxury reconstruction and investment efforts," Treasury said in a June 11 press release. Treasury said Foz has “been profiting heavily front reconstruction efforts” in Syria by building luxury developments on land seized by Syria.
The U.S. should impose harsher sanctions on the Nicaraguan government, the Daniel Ortega regime and the country’s business leaders or risk the country devolving into a similar situation the U.S. faces with Venezuela, panelists told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security and Trade on June 11.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published a guidance on restrictions in the Russia sanctions regime in the case of a no-deal Brexit, the OFSI said in a June 6 press release. The four-page guidance would only apply if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a deal. The guidance “expands specifically on financial and investment restrictions,” OFSI said, including assets freezes, preventing access to payment processing and requiring license exceptions for continuing to operate under certain restrictions related to Crimea. The guidance also contains a list of Russian banks and entities in which loans, “credit arrangements,” investments and other financial services would be prohibited.