The U.N. Security Council this week added one entry to its sanctions list and amended three others. The council added Ahmad al-Hamzi, commander of the Houthi Air Force and Air Defense Forces (see 2210050010). It also revised entries for Mahri Sidi Amar Ben Daha, Mohamed Ben Ahmed Mahri and Mohamed Ould Mataly.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 6 sanctioned seven Iranian government officials responsible for the country's internet shutdown and Myanmar businesspeople for supporting the Myanmar military.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should add China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. to the Entity List, China Tech Threat, an organization that advocates for stronger export controls on China, said in an Oct. 4 letter to BIS. The letter points to a potential partnership between Apple and YMTC (see 2209220022), which would “put U.S. and other foreign manufacturers out of business” and will allow China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to move closer to “achieving its objective of forcing companies to turn to China as their prime source for advanced technologies.”
A June joint alert by the Treasury and Commerce departments could signal new government expectations for banking industry sanctions compliance, experts with FTI Consulting said. The alert, which put companies and entities “on notice” about the types of red flags they should be monitoring for potential Russia sanctions and export control evasion tactics (see 2206280056, and 2207130014), may also force some financial institutions to reinforce their compliance and due-diligence processes, they said.
The EU officially imposed its eighth sanctions package on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, the European Council said Oct. 6. The restrictions, which include a price cap related to the maritime transport of Russian oil to third-party countries, were imposed after Russia's illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine. The European Commission welcomed official adoption of the restrictions proposed last week (see 2209290025).
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 31 Chinese entities to its Unverified List, including semiconductor firm Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., it said in a final rule effective Oct. 7. BIS said it hasn’t been able to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the entities through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. All export license exceptions involving those parties will be suspended, and exporters must obtain a statement from any party listed on the UVL before proceeding with certain exports.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced a sweeping set of new export controls it said will restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors. The controls, outlined in a final rule that will take effect in phases, will impose new restrictions on certain advanced computing semiconductor chips and semiconductor manufacturing items, impose controls on transactions for supercomputer end-uses and certain integrated circuit end-uses, and issue new restrictions on transactions involving certain entities on the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security revised how it assesses penalties in settlements involving anti-boycott violations, according to a final rule, which, effective Oct. 7, amends a supplement to the Export Administration Regulations to clarify and change the agency’s guidance on anti-boycott charging practices to allow it to better address more serious violations.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in an Oct. 5 notice added an entry to its Yemen sanctions regime. OFSI added Ahmad al-Hamzi, major general and commander of the Houthi Air Force and Air Defense Forces, to the sanctions list.
The State Department completed another round of interagency review for a final rule that would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule -- which was initially sent for review Sept. 6 (see 2209120001) and completed Sept. 14 (see 2209150009) with a change -- was again sent for review and completed on Oct. 4 after changes were made to the rule. The rulemaking would make revisions to “prohibited exports, imports, and sales to or from certain countries.”