U.S. chip companies may need to wait as long as nine months before the U.S. can come to an agreement with allies on multilateral China chip controls, Bloomberg reported Nov. 3. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, speaking last week to Lam Research, KLA and other chip companies, said the U.S. is working on an agreement with the Netherlands and Japan, but such a deal could take six to nine months, the report said.
A United Arab Emirates company violated U.S. export controls by shipping or trying to ship more than $50,000 worth of U.S.-origin telecommunications items to Syria and Iran, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a charging letter released last week. The company, WEBS Electronics Trading Company, and its owner, Mohammad Alhamra, also lied to a BIS agent when it said it didn’t export to Syria.
The semiconductor industry was disappointed the new U.S. export control rules involving China weren’t imposed multilaterally and were frustrated by the Commerce Department’s lack of engagement before the rules were announced, a chip industry executive said. Semiconductor companies also have received mixed messages from Commerce about how long it could take to convince allies to impose similar controls, a China technology expert said, and fear that China could retaliate before allies are brought on board.
Iran imposed reciprocal sanctions on the U.S., the EU, the U.K. and Canada for their restrictions on Iran in the wake of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and the subsequent violent crackdowns on the protests, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, according to an unofficial translation. Sanctioned parties are subject to an asset freeze and travel ban. The sanctions on the U.S. include Michael Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command; Gregory Guillot, deputy commander, U.S. Central Command; Army Col. Scott Desormeaux, based in Erbil, Iraq; Brian Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence; the C.I.A.; the 9th Air Force of the U.S. Army; and the U.S. National Guard. The lists for the sanctioned British, European and Canadian parties were also released.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated members of an international oil smuggling network that facilitated oil trades and generated revenue for Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), according to a Nov. 3 OFAC notice.
Qualcomm this week said it’s not affected by the U.S.’s new semiconductor export controls against China (see 2210070049) and that its business operations in the country remain steady. “The latest set of restrictions, we were not impacted by those,” CEO Cristiano Amon said during a Nov. 2 earnings call. “We have seen our business in China continue to expand.”
The U.S. and the Netherlands are planning this month to hold a new round of discussions on export controls, including restrictions to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductor technologies, Bloomberg reported Nov. 2. Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez will travel to the Netherlands as part of the talks, the report said, as will senior U.S. National Security Council official Tarun Chhabra. The U.S. will try to convince the Netherlands to expand its export controls on shipments of chip technologies to China, the report said, although officials don’t expect an agreement to come from the discussions. The meeting comes as BIS tries to convince allies to join the U.S in imposing new export restrictions designed to restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors (see 2210070049). A BIS spokesperson declined to comment, and the White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The U.K. issued a general license Nov. 2 under its Russia sanctions regime pertaining to Truphone. The license lets the company continue to provide services under existing arrangements and allows an individual or entity to carry out any activity needed for the effective termination of service contracts or obligations with Truphone. The company can pay remuneration, allowances and pensions to all British staff and reasonable fees for the functioning of the business. The license runs through Jan. 31.
The U.K. added four entries to its Russia sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a Nov. 2 notice. Entries are for Alexander Grigoryevich Abramov, former nonexecutive chairman of Evraz; Alexander Vladimirovich Frolov, former Evra director and CEO; Airat Mintimerovich Shaimiev, former director of OAO Tatavtodor; and Albert Kashafovich Shigabutdinov, former director of the AO TAIF group of companies. In the same notice, OFSI also noted it amended the entries for Aleksandr Kostomarov, Brian McDonald and God Nisanov, to add identifying information.
The European Commission and member states' competent authorities met last week to discuss sanctions enforcement and best practices to organize monitoring and implementation of sanctions at the national level. Per a statement from Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, the commission and member states talked about best ways to share pertinent information to ensure the commission "can offer proactive support." The involved parties "agreed to set up mechanisms to exchange information more swiftly."