The EU General Court annulled the sanctions listing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on the EU's terrorism restrictions list, but it dismissed the PKK's challenge to its 2015-2017 and 2019 sanction designations. The General Court in 2018 annulled the PKK's 2014-2017 designations, noting the justification of the initial designation in 2002 was too old to determine if the group's involvement in terrorist activities at the time of that initial designation continued from 2014 to 2017.The European Court of Justice overturned its judgment in 2021, referring the case back to the General Court.
The EU extended the sanctions listing criteria for designation under the Democratic Republic of the Congo restrictions regime. The criteria now allows "for the application of targeted restrictive measures against natural or legal persons, entities or bodies that sustain, support or benefit from the armed conflict, instability or insecurity in the DRC."
Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian national, was charged under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions on Russia, DOJ announced. Per the indictment unsealed Dec. 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Derkach is accused of bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and four counts of money laundering relating to the purchase of two California condominiums. The charges, along with forfeiture action taken on the condominiums, mark the first use of "criminal and forfeiture powers targeting the concealment of ownership by senior foreign political officials" as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, DOJ said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is listing methiopropamine, a central nervous stimulant that is structurally related to the schedule II stimulants methamphetamine and amphetamine, under schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released Dec. 8. “This action imposes the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess) or propose to handle methiopropamine," DEA said. The listing takes effect Jan. 9.
The Treasury Department will prioritize most enforcement of its price cap on Russian oil against “willful violators,” a senior agency official stressed this week, reminding industry that due diligence and recordkeeping could significantly mitigate any potential penalties. Elizabeth Rosenberg, Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, said the agency established its safe harbor protocol (see 2211230047) so it can target service providers intentionally looking to support Russia’s oil industry and protect those conducting good-faith sanctions compliance.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated a sanctions evasion network led by businessman Sitki Ayan that has allegedly facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of oil sales on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the agency said Dec. 8. The action supplements OFAC’s May 25 designations, which targeted a part of the network (see 2205250025).
A deal between the U.S. and the Netherlands on new export controls for chipmaking equipment destined for China could come as soon as next month, Bloomberg reported Dec. 7. The U.S. has been working to convince the Dutch to impose similar semiconductor export controls and restrict the ability of Netherlands-based ASML to provide certain advanced equipment to China (see 2211210035). The report said it remains unclear what the potential U.S.-Dutch agreement would mean for ASML’s China sales. Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said Dec. 7 that he remains confident the U.S. will convince allies to impose harsher restrictions against China, and said he respects the Netherlands’ desire to shape its own export control policies (see 2212060059).
The Bureau of Industry and Security's additions to the Entity List this week shows the agency is “constantly monitoring, assessing, and acting to prevent items subject to U.S. law from being diverted to malign purposes,” Undersecretary Alan Estevez said in a press release published by BIS Dec. 8. The agency this week added 24 companies to the Entity List for participating in illegal exports to aid Russia’s military, supply export-controlled items to Iran or support Pakistan’s nuclear activities (see 2212070022).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week renewed the temporary denial order (TDO) for three U.S. companies for their involvement in illegally exported technical drawings and blueprints to China (see 2206080068). The order, issued in June, was renewed for another 180 days, BIS said Dec. 5, partly because the agency found possible evidence of additional export violations.
The European Council and Parliament struck a provisional deal to minimize deforestation and forest degradation risk for EU imports and exports, the council announced. The deal, if formally adopted by both bodies, would set mandatory due diligence rules for all traders who "place, make available or export" palm oil, beef, timber, coffee, cocoa, rubber and soy from the EU market.