The EU may not be able to ramp up its sanctions pressure on Russia beyond the measures it has already taken, said Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, a foreign policy expert with the German Marshall Fund. Although the EU has imposed financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs and imposed export restrictions on certain strategic goods, she said the most impactful sanctions would target the Russian energy sector.
The Biden administration is emphasizing enforcement of Russia sanctions and export controls, making industry compliance with trade restrictions increasingly important, law firms said. Businesses should be taking several due diligence steps to avoid being caught in Russia-related sanctions evasion attempts, they said, and also can take action to protect their business operations in the Russia and Ukraine regions.
The White House and the State Department on March 24 announced full blocking sanctions on more than 400 individuals and entities, including members of the Russian legislature, defense companies and their leadership, and additional Russian elites. The targets are "key enablers of the invasion" of Ukraine, OFAC said in a press release that accompanied the full list of sanctioned individuals and entities.
Private sector and government leaders from around the world talked about what their firms are doing and how the World Trade Organization could be a forum for creating smoother flowing supply chains.
To enforce the deluge of sanctions placed on Russia and Belarus following their invasion of Ukraine, the EU established the "Freeze and Seize" task force to work with other nations including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France and Germany, the European Commission announced. The commission said the task force will work closely with the "Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs" task force set up under an identical premise. The task forces' first meetings took place March 11 and 18 and involved voices from the commission, points of contact from each EU member state, Europol, Eurojust and other European agencies. The task force will identify and seize assets of listed Belarusian and Russian oligarchs.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a proposed rule for interagency review that could place new export controls on certain “marine toxins.” The rule, sent for review March 21, proposes changes to the Commerce Control List to reflect revisions recently made at the Australia Group, a multilateral export control group for chemical and biological weapons. If approved by the interagency, the proposed rule will request public comments on the control changes.
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The State Department this week released its long-awaited rule to reorganize and consolidate definitions, guidance and authorities in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the first in a series of planned rules to restructure the ITAR. The interim final rule, released March 22 and effective Sept. 6, creates three new subparts outlining ITAR general information, general policies and processes, and definitions, a new structure that officials have said will improve the organization of the regulations. The agency is accepting public comments on the changes through May 9.
The U.S. and its allies will issue another set of Russian sanctions this week amid a planned meeting between President Joe Biden and European leaders, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. The announcement will not only include new designations, Sullivan said, it also will build on efforts to ensure better enforcement of existing sanctions and export controls.
The top trade official in the British government and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said they want to do even more trade and investment between the two countries, even as a free-trade agreement is not the end goal. Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan had hoped that the Biden administration would continue the free trade negotiations started during the Trump administration, but that has not happened. Marjorie Chorlins, who leads the U.S.-U.K. Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also spoke at the March 21 plenary in Baltimore, saying the business community strongly supports more U.S.-U.K. economic cooperation.