The U.S. and three of its partners this week expanded the list of common high-priority items that exporters and others should closely monitor for potential diversion to Russia. The list includes seven new Harmonized System codes -- among them for bearings used for heavy vehicles and antennae used for navigation systems -- and was rearranged to provide “greater clarity” to exporters conducting due diligence on shipments.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted four Liberia-flagged oil tankers from its Specially Designated Nationals List. The vessels were sanctioned for their ties to the Vista Clara Shipping Corp. and Azul Vista Shipping Corp., companies sanctioned last year for their ties to an oil smuggling network overseen by Viktor Artemov, a person who has provided support to Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quad Force. OFAC didn’t immediately release more information.
The U.N. on Sept. 18 officially ended its sanctions regime against Mali, removing the eight people designated under the asset-blocking measures after Russia was the lone member to veto an extension of the sanctions for one year during an Aug. 30 meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven people and four entities in China, Iran, Russia and Turkey for their involvement with Iran’s drone development and production. The agency also updated the existing entry for U.S.-sanctioned Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) to add a new alias, saying that the company since last year has used the name Shahin Co. in contracts with overseas suppliers to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security needs more resources to investigate export control violations, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said this week. She also said a potential government shutdown would be “crushing” for the agency’s enforcement efforts and work on semiconductor export regulations.
The World Trade Organization on Sept. 15 released a new publication covering export controls. The report looks at "how WTO members have used different international agreements" beyond the trade body as grounds to set export regulations to support initiatives in "environmental protection, hazardous waste management, weapons control and combating illegal drugs trade."
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions decision from the bloc involving the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol. In June, the European Council extended the sanctions until June 23, 2024. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision, the council said.
The EU General Court's Grand Chamber on Sept. 13 rejected the Venezuelan government's challenge of the EU's Venezuela sanctions regime. The court said the European Council "relied on credible and reliable information" to assess the situation in Venezuela, which included "brutal repression" by the government. The court also said Venezuelan reports showing its government prosecuted these human rights abuses weren't enough to reveal a "manifest error" in the council's decision. The sanctions regime itself didn't violate international law, the court added, nor was it an illegal countermeasure because the sanctions weren't meant to be a reaction to an "internationally wrongful act imputable" to the Venezuelan government.
The EU added another four people and six entities to its Iran sanctions regime for "serious human rights violations in Iran," the European Council announced. The sanctions package was issued to mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini -- who was arrested for not wearing a hijab -- in the custody of the country’s Morality Police last year. The sanctions were coordinated with the U.S. (see 2309150023).