A bipartisan group of senators last week urged the Commerce Department to add China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Company to the Entity List, Reuters reported Aug. 1. In a July 28 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said YMTC is an “immediate threat” to the U.S. and should be subject to strict export licensing requirements. “By failing to add YMTC to the Entity List, the U.S. Department of Commerce is allowing the PRC to exploit our technological sector and supply sanctioned parties in China,” the letter said, according to the report. A Commerce spokesperson said the agency received the letter and will respond. Spokespeople for the lawmakers didn’t immediately comment. The letter came a little more than a week after members of the Senate Banking Committee urged Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez to add YMTC to the Entity List (see 2207150023).
Canada this week announced new sanctions on 43 Russian military officials and 17 entities that are “complicit” in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The entities include organizations in Russia’s science, research, shipbuilding and engineering sectors.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new round of sanctions targeting Kremlin-connected elites and businesses that generate "substantial revenue for the Russian regime, OFAC said in an Aug. 2 news release. Thirteen individuals, 36 entities and two vessels were added to OFAC's Speacially Designated Nationals List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has drafted a prerule that could lead to new emerging technology export controls on “instruments for the automated chemical synthesis of peptides.” The proposed rule, which was mentioned in the agency’s spring regulatory agenda (see 2206270007), would seek public comments on the controls and help BIS determine whether the instruments could provide the U.S. or its adversaries a “qualitative military or intelligence advantage.” BIS sent the rule for interagency review Aug. 1.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security entered into a settlement agreement with a Nogales, Arizona, business owner after he tried to illegally export about $4,000 worth of items to Mexico, including ballistic helmets and rifle scopes. Under a settlement agreement, Luis Fernando Gracia must conduct an internal audit of his company’s export compliance procedures and complete compliance training or else face the suspension of his export privileges.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated its restricted aircraft list with 25 foreign-produced planes that have violated U.S. export controls. BIS said the commercial planes -- which are the first foreign-produced aircraft added to the list -- violated the Export Administration Regulations’ de minimis threshold for U.S. components by flying into Russia or Belarus. The agency also updated various tail numbers and serial numbers for other listed planes.
Brian Fleming, a former official in the National Security Division at DOJ, has joined Steptoe & Johnson as a partner in the International Trade and Regulatory Compliance Group, the firm announced. Fleming most recently worked as a member at Miller & Chevalier Chartered, advising clients on economic sanctions, export controls and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States proceedings.
Singapore Customs brought its Strategic Goods Control List up to date with the Wassenaar Arrangement's Munitions List and the 2021 EU's List of Dual-Use Items, with the changes coming into effect Oct. 1, the agency announced Aug. 1. The EUDL lays out items controlled by the four multilateral export control regimes: the Australia Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement. The update includes new controls and editorial changes for "consistency and clarity" of the controls, the notice said. The amendment to Strategic Goods (Control) Regulations' fourth and fifth schedules includes new items and is also effective Oct. 1.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 1 added six companies and one vessel to its Specially Designated Nationals List for their involvement in the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products to East Asia.