President Donald Trump discussed removing sanctions on Iran to help schedule a meeting with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani later this month, Bloomberg reported Sept. 11. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was in favor of the move as a way to restart negotiations with Iran, the report said, but then-National Security Adviser John Bolton argued against it. Bolton resigned one day later.
Iran violated international sanctions by reneging on promises to Britain that it would not use a previously seized oil tanker to deliver oil to Syria, the United Kingdom said in a Sept. 10 press release. The U.K. said it is “now clear that Iran has breached these assurances” and shipped the oil to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime.
A bipartisan group of senators is concerned that U.S. export controls are not strict enough to stop sensitive technologies from being sent to China and asked the administration to review the controls. In a Sept. 10 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, four senators suggested that China may be using Hong Kong to “steal or otherwise acquire” critical technologies such as artificial intelligence, mass surveillance tools and advanced robotics.
The Commerce Department asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by FedEx that said Commerce’s export controls are unconstitutional and impossible to comply with, according to a motion filed Sept. 10. Commerce raised several issues with FedEx’s suit (see 1906250030), saying the company did not “allege a plausible violation” of the Export Control Reform Act, and argued that FedEx failed to provide evidence for many of its points. “Even if these standards were judicially enforceable, FedEx’s allegations are conclusory,” Commerce said.
Britain's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued two reports on Sept. 5 on the country’s asset-freezing regime. The first report covers U.K. sanctions from January through March and the second report covers sanctions from April through June. The reports include the total value of assets that were frozen during the two quarters as well as statistics on new designations, delistings and licenses.
Britain's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Sept. 5 issued a guidance on complying with frozen-assets reporting. The guidance includes information on how people or companies should report sanctioned property and how companies should conduct “ongoing compliance” to ensure they’re not violating sanctions laws.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 3-6 in case they were missed.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Sept. 10 that “strengthens and expands” the State and Treasury departments' sanctions authorities against terrorists, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a notice. Among several changes, the order allows the U.S. to impose “correspondent account or payable-through account sanctions” on foreign banks that “knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction” for a U.S. sanctioned global terrorist, OFAC said.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security issued two sets of Frequently Asked Questions involving Huawei and the extension of its temporary general license, including information on what changes came with the extended license, which transactions are covered and more. But the agency did not say whether it planned to again renew the temporary general license when it expires Nov. 18. “Any decision to renew the Temporary General License will be made at the sole discretion of the U.S. Government,” BIS said.
Britain's Export Control Joint Unit published a Sept. 6 guidance on export controls for military goods, software and technology, covering when exporters need a license, which items are controlled and more. The guidance also includes contact information for an ECJU helpline to call for questions about export licensing.