The proposed Chip 4 Alliance of the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (see 2212280035 and 2210050009) likely will not be enough to keep U.S. semiconductor technology ahead of China, one lawmaker and several experts said during a Feb. 22 event hosted by the Atlantic Council. For the U.S. to achieve true multilateral chip cooperation, including with the EU, experts said, the U.S. may have to settle for watered-down restrictions.
The State Department this week released its long-awaited revised arms transfer policies (see 2111040056), outlining how the Biden administration will assess arms transfer risks while also promoting U.S. defense trade. The Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) Policy formalizes the “priorities and rationale” the administration has been using to adjudicate arms transfer decisions, which it said includes a heavy focus on human rights issues.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced a host of new export control actions aimed at further limiting Russia from sustaining its war effort against Ukraine, including additions to the Entity List, an expansion of the agency’s industry sector restrictions on both Russia and Belarus and new export controls against Iran to address its drone transfers to Russia. The measures, effective Feb. 24, add 86 new entities to the Entity List; place additional restrictions on commercial, industrial and luxury goods; impose new license requirements on “low-technology” items destined to Iran; create a new Iran Foreign Direct Product Rule, and more.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced a range of updates to its export regulations stemming from agreements made during the 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary meeting, including revisions to the Commerce Control List and the license exceptions Adjusted Peak Performance (APP) and Strategic Trade Authorization (STA). The agency also made several corrections to the Export Administration Regulations, including to align the scope of its Significant Item (SI) license requirements throughout the EAR.
Kristy Balsanek, former general counsel for global grocery retailer Lidl US, has joined DLA Piper as a Washington, D.C.-based partner in its regulatory and government affairs practice group, the firm announced. Balsanek's practice will focus on environmental, social and governance-related risk areas, which the firm describes as "business ethics, corporate governance, director/officer duties, anti-corruption, sanctions, labor and human rights, global supply chain transparency, climate change, green initiatives, environmental marketing, privacy and data protection among many others."
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent decision made under the bloc's Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions regime, the European Council announced. In December, the council amended the designation criteria under the regime. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway aligned with the decision, the council said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of people and companies involved in illegal methamphetamine and fentanyl trade, including six Mexican nationals who are members of the Sinaloa Cartel. OFAC also designated six Mexico-based entities with ties to the illegal drug trade.
Japan and other G-7 countries should use the group’s trade ministers meeting later this year to push for a common set of export control standards across member states, which could help allied export control systems better respond to modern security and human rights issues, export control and technology policy experts said. In comments recently submitted to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the experts said plurilateral controls by G-7 countries and other like-minded “techno-democracies” can address some issues the existing multilateral control regimes are hindered from tackling because of Russia’s membership (see 2211210005 and 2009290042).
The U.K. added eight individuals to its Iran (Human Rights) sanctions regime, in a Feb. 20 notice from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. The individuals are Parviz Absalan, Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander at Sistan and Baluchistan; Musa Asif Al-Hosseini, presiding judge of Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Courts of Karaj; Hassan Asgari, governor of Sanandaj; Morteza Barati, presiding judge of Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Courts of Isfahan; Amanollah Garshasbi, deputy commander of the IRGC for Sistan and Baluchistan province; Mohammad Karami, governor of Sistan and Baluchistan province; Hadi Mansouri, presiding judge of Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Courts of Mashhad; and Mohammad Taghi Osanloo, IRGC ground forces commander.
Europe has so far “neglected” the increasing competitiveness of Chinese chip design companies, presenting “challenges across the dimensions of national security, supply chain resilience and technological competitiveness for Europe,” European research institutions said in a recent report. Written by the Digital Power China research consortium and the Leiden Asia Centre, the report said the EU should better invest in its own chip design capabilities, strengthen the “indispensability” of its chip firms through “policy interventions,” “map the risk profile of increasing reliance on Chinese chip design” and more.