The U.S. will increasingly look to apply new export licensing requirements to entire countries rather than to specific companies, which could lead to a shift away from the Entity List, Commerce Secretary Gina Riamondo said. She also said the agency will continue targeting new artificial intelligence-related products developed by American semiconductor companies, such as Nvidia, that fall just below U.S. export control thresholds.
The U.K. amended one entry under its Russia sanctions regime and five entries under its Libya sanctions regime in a pair of Nov. 30 notices from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. The listing for Mihajlo Perencevic under the Russia restrictions was altered to reflect that he is the former, not current, president of construction, energy and extractive firm Velesstroy. Under the Libya restrictions list, OFSI amended the entries for Osama Al Kuni Ibrahim, Abd Al-Rahman Salim Ibrahim Al-Milad, Mohammed Al Amin Al-Arabi Kashlaf, Saadi Qadhafi and Sayyid Mohammed Qadhafi.
The EU General Court on Nov. 29 accepted the second application from Alexander Pumpyanskiy, son of Russian oligarch Dmitry Pumpyanskiy, to annul his sanctions relisting, according to an unofficial translation. The court rejected his claim for damages. Pumpyanskiy was sanctioned in March 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, because of his relationship to Dmitry Pumpyanskiy, and because he was president and board member of the Sinara Group.
Two months away from the first reporting requirements for carbon intensity of certain imports into the EU, not only do many importers not understand how to comply, but even the customs authorities aren't ready, said Vassilis Akritidis, a partner at Crowell who offered a webinar on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism last week.
USDA last week urged U.S. exporters to review the U.K.’s post-Brexit system of import controls on animals, animal products, plants and plant products before it goes into force Jan. 31 for the EU and April 30 for the rest of the world. The new system will introduce new export health certificate requirements for certain U.K. imports, the agency’s Foreign Agricultural Service said, and some import checks may be conducted remotely through new trusted trader schemes. The agency also said the U.K. is hoping the new regime will “reduce routine checks for some” low-risk products.
The U.N. Security Council last week amended five Libya-related entries on its sanctions list. The changes correct identifying information for Libyan military officials, including one person believed to now be deceased.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Guatemalan ex-official last week for engaging in widespread bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts, OFAC said in a news release. Luis Miguel Martinez Morales is former head of the now-defunct Centro de Gobierno, and used that position to influence the “government contracts process to benefit himself and close associates,” OFAC said. He also “solicited large kickbacks to facilitate the purchase of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines by the Government of Guatemala,” OFAC said. Martinez was designated under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the agency said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned three companies and three vessels for violating the Group of 7 price cap on Russian crude oil. The agency also issued a new general license authorizing certain safety and environmental-related transactions involving those vessels.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a final rule last week to temporarily modify a note within its aircraft-related export controls under Category VIII of the U.S. Munitions List.
End-use certificates can be a good way to mitigate some sanctions and export control risk, but “it doesn't necessarily make the risk completely disappear,” said Jan Dunin-Wasowicz, a Hughes Hubbard trade lawyer. Dunin-Wasowicz cautioned companies about relying solely on end-use and end-user statements when conducting due diligence, adding that companies can take other compliance steps to vet a transaction, especially because some customers are willing to lie about a product's end-use.