Allegations that Diesel Canada, Hugo Boss Canada and Walmart Canada purchase garments that were made in part with Uyghur forced labor -- complaints that rely on Australian Strategic Policy Institute reporting in 2020 and Sheffield Hallam University reports -- will progress to a fact-finding investigation after the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) found that the companies' responses weren't satisfactory.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published four previously issued general licenses under its Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Sanctions Regulations. The text of each license is available in the Federal Register notice.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed a yacht from its Specially Designated National List that was sanctioned in 2019 for belonging to Saleh Assi, who was accused of money laundering and aiding a Hezbollah financier. The Malta-flagged Flying Dragon was removed from the SDN List because it no longer belongs to Assi, an OFAC spokesperson said Sept. 1.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is drafting a proposed rule to revise license exception Additional Permissive Reexports, which allows certain reexports of controlled U.S. items from U.S. allies, including those listed under Country Group A:1 of the Export Administration Regulations. BIS sent the rule for interagency review Sept. 1. The agency in 2020 proposed reducing the number of countries eligible for the license exception, but trade groups and companies said the move could damage U.S. competitiveness (see 2009220037).
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The U.S. shouldn’t be targeting American companies that exclude foreign applicants for job openings if those policies are meant to protect American sensitive technologies, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, said in a letter to DOJ. Vance’s letter came after DOJ in recent enforcement actions targeted both SpaceX and General Motors for using export control laws to justify restrictive hiring practices, highlighting the risks facing companies looking to fill positions that involve export-controlled items, Barnes & Thornburg said in a recent client alert.
China’s commerce minister last week voiced “serious concerns” with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo about U.S. semiconductor export control policies, investment restrictions, “discriminatory subsidies” and sanctions on Chinese companies, a ministry spokesperson told reporters during an Aug. 31 news conference. The minister also asked Raimondo for the U.S. to treat all companies “equally in terms of market access, regulatory enforcement, public procurement, and policy support,” the spokesperson said, according to an unofficial translation.
The U.K. revised the entry for Dana Holdings on its Belarus sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced last week. The change revised identifying information for the company, which operates in the Belarusian construction sector.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a temporary denial order last week against three people and four companies for their involvement in a scheme to illegally procure more than $225,000 worth of U.S. electronics components for Russia’s military. One of the individuals, Russian-German national Arthur Petrov, was arrested Aug. 26 in Cyprus and charged by DOJ with violating export controls and smuggling controlled goods from the U.S.
A recently issued paper from the International Chamber of Commerce highlights the “great challenge” facing financial institutions in providing trade finance to businesses, especially those involved in dual-use goods, Stephenson Harwood said in an Aug. 29 client alert.