The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on June 20 amended its general license covering humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. OFSI updated the definition of "non-government controlled Ukrainian territory" to include the oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The agency also added nine entities to its "Designated Financial Institution" list: Bank St Petersburg PJSC, Bank Uralsib PJSC, MTS Bank PJSC, Bank Zenit PJSC, Bank DOM.RF, Rosbank PJSC, Tinkoff Bank, Russian Regional Development Bank and PJSC JSCB Metallinvestbank.
The Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration is accepting applications for an upcoming trade mission aimed at introducing U.S. exporters to East Asia's information and communication technology security and critical infrastructure protection markets. The Sept. 18-26 mission to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan will look to help exporters find “business partners and export their products and services to the region,” ITA said. Participants must certify that their products comply with U.S. export controls. The application deadline is June 23, with those received after that date “considered only if space and scheduling constraints permit.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published a previously issued general license under its Venezuela Sanctions Regulations. The full text of the license is available in the notice.
Swedbank, whose subsidiary reached a $3.4 million settlement with the Treasury Department this week to resolve allegations it violated U.S. sanctions (see 2306200060), said DOJ, SEC and the Department of Financial Services in New York also are investigating it. The bank is “holding separate discussions with these agencies” and the probes are at different stages, it said June 19. “At this time, the bank cannot assess the extent of potential financial consequences, nor when the investigations will be completed.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Myanmar’s Ministry of Defense and two financial institutions that help facilitate foreign currency exchanges within the country and transactions between the military and foreign markets. OFAC said state-owned Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank allow the country’s defense ministry to buy arms and “other materials.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security is considering tweaking regulatory language that calls on exporters to conduct a five-year review of activities that preceded their voluntary self-disclosures. The change could make it so the language only applies to more serious disclosures, said the top BIS export enforcement official, Maththew Axelrod, and would represent another step in the agency’s effort to draw more BIS and industry resources toward addressing significant violations as opposed to minor or technical ones.
Deborah Curtis, a former export control and sanctions official, has joined Arnold & Porter as a partner in its White Collar Defense & Investigations practice in Washington, the firm announced. Her practice will center on "national security investigations and defense, and other litigation and enforcement matters." Curtis previously served as the chief counsel for the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, a trial attorney for export control and sanctions at DOJ, and as deputy general counsel for litigation and investigations for the CIA.
The U.K. added two entries to its Syria sanctions list in a June 19 notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on Ali Mahmoud Abbas, the Syrian defense minister, and Abdel Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, chief of the general staff of the Syrian army and armed forces. In a separate notice, OFSI added two entries to its Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list. Desire Londroma Ndjukpa, commander of CODECO URDPC, and William Yakutumba, leader of the Mai-Mai Yakutumba, were also hit with travel bans and asset freezes.
The European Council dropped two names from its Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions regime following a ruling from the EU General Court. The individuals, Kalev Mutondo and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, were originally listed for obstructing the 2018 elections in the Congo, the council said June 19. In March, the General Court ruled that the council failed to adequately link Shadary and Mutondo and the security situation in the Congo.
Export compliance professionals stressed the importance of restricted party screening, telling this week's American Association of Exporters and Importers’ annual conference the screening process has become even more pivotal as the pace of new U.S. sanctions and export controls increases. Karen Wyman, who heads the trade compliance division at thermal imaging company Teledyne FLIR, said part of that effort is ensuring screening lists are constantly up to date.