Officials from the EU, the U.S., the U.K. and Japan met this week to discuss export controls against Russia and ways to expand existing restrictions to further damage Russia’s economy, said Denis Redonnet, the EU’s chief trade enforcement officer. Redonnet, speaking Dec. 6 at the EU’s annual export control forum, said the bloc used the forum as a backdrop to hold “bilateral, quad collective meetings” to look at “possible additional sanctions measures going forward” and to examine ways the countries can better enforce existing measures.
The U.K. is looking to expand its Russia sanctions to target additional services in a bid to further damage the country’s military and economy, said Ros Lynch, the U.K.’s deputy director for sanctions policy. Lynch, speaking during the EU’s annual export control forum this week, said the U.K. already has imposed restrictions on some legal advisory, engineering and consulting services (see 2210030016) but said more needs to be done, including by other G-7 countries.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 24 companies to the Entity List for participating in a range of illegal exports, including efforts to aid Russia’s military, supply export-controlled items to Iran or support Pakistan’s nuclear activities, the agency said in a final rule released Dec. 7. The additions include entities located in Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. BIS also removed one company from the Entity List.
The U.K. recently released four general licenses pertaining to its recent price cap on Russian oil. The first license, "Oil Price Cap: Exempt Projects and Countries," permits the supply Russian oil in certain scenarios. One such instance is the supply of Russian oil from the Sakhalin-2 Project from a place in Russia to a place in Japan, which is permitted through Sept. 29.
The State Department should designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, which would allow the U.S to impose certain sanctions or trade restrictions on it, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. They said the State Department has “neglected” to designate Nigeria for the second straight year after removing the designation last year, saying the country tolerates “severe violations of religious freedom.”
Canada imposed another set of sanctions against people in Haiti for providing support to armed gangs in the country, Canada announced this week. The sanctions target three “high-profile members of the economic elite” in Haiti: Gilbert Bigio, Reynold Deeb and Sherif Abdallah. Canada said the people are using their status to “protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption.” Canada earlier this year sanctioned other Haitian political elites for supporting gangs (see 2211210026).
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published in the Federal Register this week its temporary suspension of certain export license requirements for certain capacitors described in the U.S. Munitions List. The suspension, announced last month (see 2211230030), will last for six months and could allow DDTC to better “facilitate” commercial transactions involving the capacitors, including for the energy exploration and aviation sectors.
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The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week released its long-awaited updated compliance program guidelines (see 2211100023), which are intended to outline and detail “key elements” of an effective compliance program, the agency said. The 63-page document includes instructions on how to design a program for defense companies and universities that deal with items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List, as well as sections on recordkeeping, reporting, International Traffic in Arms Regulations training, risk assessment audits and more. DDTC stressed that “scope of ITAR activity in which different organizations engage varies substantially,” and each compliance program “should be tailored to address each organization’s ITAR-controlled activities, risk factors, and size.”
China has been more receptive to U.S. end-use checks on Chinese entities as a result of a Commerce Department policy change from October, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said this week. Estevez also said he doesn’t expect any significant revisions to BIS’s most recent chip restrictions on China, and warned that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would spark new, strict U.S. export controls that would cause U.S. companies to lose “billions” of dollars in Chinese business.