The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 15 issued two determinations to restrict certain quantum computing-related activities with Russia. One directive, effective immediately, imposes sanctions on Russia's quantum computing sector. The second directive, which will take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Oct. 15, will prohibit the exportation, reexportation, sale or supply of quantum computing services to Russia. The prohibitions aim to "further degrade Russia’s ability to reconstitute its military with advanced technology," OFAC said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is on pace to detain almost as many exports to Russia this year as the agency detained in 2021 for the entire world, said Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s top export enforcement official. In the six months since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he said, the U.S. has detained nearly 240 shipments to Russia worth more than $93 million.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week announced a host of measures to expand its export restrictions against Russia and Belarus, including an expansion of its Russian industry sector sanctions to add new export controls on lower-level items. The agency also expanded its military and military intelligence end-user controls, applied its Russian-Belarusian MEU foreign direct product rule to additional entities, added additional dollar value exclusion thresholds for certain luxury goods exports and more.
The European Council adopted a measure to back the development and implementation of sanctions information technology tools until December 2024. The measure allocates the equivalent of nearly $450,000 to the effort and says the EU will support technology to supply information on EU information exchanges among the member states, stakeholders and the European Commission.
The European Commission will present measures to include corruption under the EU's sanctions regime, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her Sept. 14 State of the Union address. Speaking more generally about fighting corruption "with all its faces," von der Leyen said that "in the coming year the Commission will present measures to update our legislative framework for fighting corruption," including proposing to include corruption in the human rights sanctions regime. The European Parliament in February called for the adoption of an EU corruption sanctions regime, and the U.K. and the U.S. have corruption sanctions regimes.
The European Commission updated its consolidated and intellectual property rights frequently asked questions pages related to its Russia sanctions regime. Nine new FAQs deal with the verification of whether an IPR applicant or a party in opposition or invalidity proceedings is listed; IPR registrations filed by listed individuals or entities before their date of inclusion; and whether EU and member state IP offices should suspend requests from designated individuals and entities.
The EU renewed its Ukraine sanctions regime concerning the misappropriation of state funds until March 6, 2023, though it didn't renew certain listings. The listings for former President Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych and his son, Oleksandr, were not renewed, having expired Sept. 6, though they are both now designated under the EU's Russia sanctions regime. The EU General Court annulled the Ukraine misappropriaton listings for Yanukovych and his son in 2022, 2021, 2019 and 2016 but upheld their designations in 2016 and 2017, the EU Sanctions blog said. The listings of former Prosecutor General Viktor Pavlovych Pshonka and his son Artem weren't renewed. The EU General Court annulled their designations in 2021, 2020 and 2019.
Despite the fact that the administration has not opened any formal free trade agreement negotiations in two years, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman said he's confident a trade agreement can be reached with Taiwan.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 10 individuals and two entities for their roles in conducting malicious cyber acts, it said in a Sept. 14 notice. The designations are part of a joint action with the State Department, DOJ, FBI, U.S. Cyber Command, NSA, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The designated individuals and entities are affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). OFAC said the action "continues the series of designations that aim to protect U.S. persons from ransomware activity, facilitators of ransomware activity, and other cybercrime."
The Biden administration is crafting a sanctions package to potentially deter China from invading Taiwan, and Taipei is urging the EU to do the same, Reuters reported Sept. 14. While details are not yet known because discussions are at an “early stage,” the report said the measures could eventually expand existing U.S. sanctions against Beijing, including trade restrictions on sensitive technologies. The White House didn’t comment.