A U.S. semiconductor company and a Canadian electronics component manufacturer are locked in a legal battle that could have implications for the export compliance responsibilities of sellers and buyers, particularly within the chip industry.
The U.K. dropped one name from its Russia sanctions list. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed Sergey Stognienko, management board member of Bank Otkritie Financial Corp., a financial services company in Russia.
The EU General Court on Nov. 8 rejected a Russian CEO's application to annul his sanctions designation. The court said the European Council properly laid out a statement of reasons for the sanctions decision, adding that the council "adduced a set of sufficiently specific, precise and consistent indicia capable of demonstrating" that Dmitry Mazepin "is a leading businessperson involved in a sector providing a substantial source of revenue to the Russian Government."
The EU General Court on Nov. 8 rejected Mikalai Varabei's application to annul his sanctions listing under the EU's Belarus sanctions regime. Varabei was challenging the European Council's finding that his activities in various Belarussian economic sectors show that he benefits from President Aleksandr Lukashenko's regime.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed the temporary denial order for Russia's Rossiya Airlines, saying the company has continued to illegally operate planes in violation of U.S. export controls, including on flights between Russia and Egypt and Russia and Uzbekistan. The agency renewed the denial order for one year from Nov. 8, part of a change the agency announced in August that allows it to renew certain orders for one year instead of the previous 180-day maximum (see 2308290029). BIS first suspended the export privileges of the airline in May 2022 (see 2205200008) and has renewed the order multiple times.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas temporarily halted administrative proceedings concerning SpaceX's export control-related hiring practices, in a Nov. 8 order. Granting the space exploration company's motion for a preliminary injunction in part and denying it in part, Judge Rolando Olvera said SpaceX is likely to succeed on its claim that a law making it illegal to discriminate based on citizenship status in hiring decisions, 8 U.S.C. 1324b, violates the Appointments Clause under the U.S. Constitution (Space Exploration Technologies v. Carol Bell, S.D. Tex. # 23-00137).
House Select Committee on China Republicans wrote to President Joe Biden, asking him to make human rights and military demands of Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will happen Nov. 15-17.
The U.S. should have placed export controls on a broader range of semiconductors, including legacy chips, as part of its efforts over the last year to restrict sales of advanced semiconductors to China, said Nazak Nikakhtar, a former acting Bureau of Industry and Security undersecretary. She said a lack of legacy chip controls is allowing China to dominate that sector of the industry and grab market share away from companies in the U.S. and its allies, including South Korea and Taiwan.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions decision from the European Council in light of the situation in Niger, the council announced Nov. 8. On Oct. 23, the council established the sanctions framework to target those responsible for threatening the security of Niger and undermining the "constitutional order, democracy, and the rule of law." North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Armenia and Azerbaijan all followed suit and imposed the sanctions.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is seeking public comments on an information collection related to requests for advisory opinions. DDTC said exporters and others can request an advisory opinion from DDTC to determine whether the agency would likely grant a license for the export of a particular defense article or defense service, or to ask DDTC to interpret other requirements under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Public comments are due Dec. 11.