The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 13 people and companies responsible for handling millions of dollars of Iranian sales revenue or for arranging shipments of Iranian commodities to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. The sanctions target Iran-linked people and entities involved in a “complex network of exchange houses” and businesses across several countries, including Lebanon, Turkey, St. Kitts, Russia and the U.K.
American chip designer Nvidia is working with the Biden administration to make sure its products comply with U.S. export restrictions, CEO Jensen Huang said during a news conference in Singapore this week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security needs to overhaul its export control policies to stem the flow of U.S. national security technology that is fueling China’s military modernization, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a report marking the end of a 90-day review of the agency (see 2210030068).
Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez called this week for more funding from Congress, suggesting BIS may need a substantially increased annual budget to more effectively implement and enforce export controls against China and other countries.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week released a host of export control changes designed to ease license requirements and expand license exceptions for certain exports of pathogens and toxins, crime-control goods and missile technology items to U.S. allies. The agency also proposed changes to License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (STA) to try to convince more exporters to use the exception.
African and Brazilian participants at the U.N. Climate Change Conference complained that the EU's due diligence requirement to certify that commodities were not grown on deforested land in the tropics (see 2112030047 and 2307270041) is burdensome to small farmers in their countries.
The U.K. government this week issued new guidance to alert the country’s financial services industry about ways Russia is using third countries to evade export controls and sanctions. The “red alert” also includes a list of red flags that banks, credit card operators, foreign exchange dealers and other payment service providers should monitor for potential Russian sanctions evasion, and the country’s National Crime Agency urged financial institutions to submit reports about any suspicious activity.
China’s Ministry of Commerce criticized the U.S. government's recent sanctions against Chinese companies this week for illegally supplying Russia's military and defense industrial base (see 2312050046), saying the move is a "typical example of unilateral sanctions," which undermine international trade rules and affects the security of supply chains. China is "strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to this,” the ministry said, according to an unofficial translation. The news release called for an immediate cessation of the sanctions, adding that China will "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed the temporary denial order for Belavia Belarusian Airlines, Belarus' state-owned national airline. BIS first suspended the export privileges of the airline in June (see 2206160015) and has renewed that suspension twice, barring it from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The agency this week renewed the denial order for one year -- longer than the previous 180-day renewals -- after finding Belavia continues to illegally operate aircraft subject to the EAR, including for flights between Russia, Belarus, Turkey and Egypt.
Robert Wise, a New York-based lawyer who helped manage luxury properties for sanctioned Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, was sentenced Dec. 5 to one year of house arrest followed by one year of probation. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil also levied a $100,000 fine against the lawyer, to be paid out in $8,333.33 monthly installments over the next year.