Switzerland is looking to revise its export control laws to allow certain countries to ship Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Jan. 15. The change could eliminate a Swiss requirement that keeps countries from shipping certain Swiss items to certain destinations without approval from the country’s government, the report said. The revisions could be the country’s “first substantial move to soften the restrictive law shaped by its longstanding tradition of neutrality,” the report said, and comes amid “international criticism of its restrictive arms export law.” The measure will face scrutiny by the Swiss parliament’s upper and lower houses before it can be finalized.
Dutch officials continued to say the country isn't yet fully on board with recent U.S. chip export controls against China (see 2212080012), saying the Netherlands won’t succumb to American peer pressure. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, ahead of a Jan. 17 meeting with President Joe Biden, said the country is working methodically through potential new restrictions.
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The Energy Department issued a final rule this month that will allow it to impose monetary penalties for illegal exports of certain nuclear items, including technology. The rule implements a provision in the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that clarified DOE’s ability to impose penalties for violations of Part 810 of the Atomic Energy Act, the agency said, which places controls on exports of “unclassified nuclear technology and assistance.” The agency also issued a set of frequently asked questions to provide guidance on the change.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated its October chip controls on China to also extend the restrictions to Macau. BIS said Macau -- as a special administrative region of China -- presents a “risk of diversion” of export controlled items and should be subject to the same license requirements introduced by BIS’ October rule, which was intended to restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors (see 2210070049).
Robert Slack has joined Fenwick & West as a partner in its Washington, D.C.-based regulatory practice, the firm announced. Slack's practice focuses on economic sanctions, export controls and other trade compliance issues. He represents clients before the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, the State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, the firm said. He is a former partner in Kelley Drye's trade and national security practice.
The U.K.'s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Export Control Joint Unit on Jan. 10 issued updated guidance on the arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan. The updates say that "[s]upplies of military list equipment to other end-users; such as, humanitarian, peacekeeping, research or media organisations, will not be considered subject to the embargo, unless there is a clear risk of diversion to the armed forces, police or security forces of either state."
The EU will impose new sanctions on Belarus for its support of Russia's war in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a Jan. 10 statement. Speaking at a joint news conference with North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and European Council President Charles Michel after signing the joint declaration on EU-NATO cooperation, von der Leyen said sanctions will continue to be a tool used against Russian aggression. "We will extend these sanctions to those who militarily support Russia's war such as Belarus or Iran," the president said. "And we will be coming forward with new sanctions against Belarus, answering Belarus' role in this Russian war in Ukraine."
The State Department Jan. 10 completed an interagency review of a final rule to further reorganize the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule, first sent for review in November, would reorganize ITAR part 120 to consolidate all definitions into one part and “organize the definitions in a manner that enhances their clarity and ease of use,” the agency said. The agency's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls in March issued the first in a series of rules expected to reorganize the ITAR (see 2203220013).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in a Jan. 9 opinion upheld a district court ruling sentencing Chinese national Shuren Qin to two years in prison for violating federal export controls. Qin was found guilty of shipping hydrophones with anti-submarine applications to a Chinese military university on the Commerce Department's Entity List (see 2109090033). Judges David Barron, Jeffrey Howard and William Kayatta ruled the search of Qin's laptop and cellphone "constituted a border search that was supported by reasonable suspicion that Qin was engaged in the ongoing violation of export laws," and the defendant was properly convicted (United States v. Shuren Qin, 1st Cir. # 21-1832).