The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 9 sanctioned seven people and eight entities in Central America, Africa and Europe for corruption. The designations target a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme involving “suspicious procurements” in El Salvador, government corruption in Guatemala and South Sudan, a former warlord in Liberia, a former government official in Ukraine and an embezzlement network in Angola. The U.S. announced the sanctions as part of International Anti-Corruption Day.
The White House announced a new multilateral export control initiative this week to curb the proliferation of dual-use technologies used for human rights abuses (see 2112020073). Under the effort, which the White House called the Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative, the U.S. will work with “like-minded partners” to determine how export controls can better “monitor” and “restrict” sensitive technologies. The effort will help “reduce the potential for countries to abuse new technologies, including surveillance technologies,” President Joe Biden said Dec. 9 at the U.S.’s virtual Summit for Democracy (see 2112070050). Biden said countries attending the summit will convene again next year to show they followed through on their various commitments, including the export control effort.
The European Union should better align its definition of “basic scientific research” with the U.S.'s to create a more level playing field under U.S. and EU export regulations, said Aude Jalabert of the European Semiconductor Industry Association. Jalabert, speaking during the EU’s annual export control forum Dec. 8, said the EU’s definition is “stricter and maybe more narrow than some foreign definitions,” and only exempts “very basic technology and research fields.”
Universities need more guidance from the European Union to comply with its new dual-use export control regulations, said Katleen Janssen of the League of European Research Universities. Janssen, speaking during the EU’s annual export control forum Dec. 8, said researchers especially struggle to meet compliance requirements associated with emerging technologies and research sharing.
The United Kingdom's international trade secretary presented Parliament a revised version of the licensing criteria for strategic export controls, the Department for International Trade said Dec. 8. The licensing criteria, known as the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, will be applied to all license decisions on goods, software and technology subject to export controls. The revisions include an "enhanced" definition of military end-use to boost its effectiveness by permitting the control on a case-by-case basis of non-listed items intended for use by military, paramilitary, security or police forces in a destination subject to an arms embargo. Exemptions will be provided for medical supplies and food, clothing and or other consumer goods generally available to the public. China will also be added to the list of destinations subject to military end-use controls, the DIT said.
Belarus has announced retaliatory measures against countries that have recently sanctioned it, imposing a ban on the import of certain goods originating in the United Kingdom, the European Union, the U.S. and Canada, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said Dec. 6. The measures also include restrictions on U.K. and EU air carriers, travel bans for certain officials in each of the sanctioned states and "other non-public steps," the foreign ministry said. Another countermeasure will be to "strengthen economic integration with the Russian Federation, as well as build strong trade and economic ties with" Eurasian Economic Union states and others.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined an unnamed person about $133,000 after they violated U.S. sanctions against Iran, OFAC said in a Dec. 8 notice. OFAC said the person accepted payment on behalf of an Iran-based company selling cement clinker to another company for a project in a third country.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 8 sanctioned 16 people and 24 entities for corruption and human rights violations, continuing its string of designations this week under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (see 2112070058 and 2112060014). The designations target a crime network in Kosovo and their affiliated companies or entities across Europe. OFAC also sanctioned people in El Salvador for helping to coordinate a “secret truce” between the country’s government and gang leaders, including MS-13.
The European Commission is finalizing the first draft of its export control guidance for cyber-surveillance tools and aims to publish the final version by September, said Carla Farcas-Hutchinson, a European Union trade official. The commission had hoped to finish the guidance this year (see 2012140049), but significant input from member states pushed back the timeline.
The U.S this week imposed an arms embargo and new, broad export restrictions on Cambodia in response to government corruption and human rights abuses. The restrictions, released Dec. 8 by the Commerce and the State departments and effective Dec. 9, will apply more stringent controls on a range of dual-use and military-related exports to the country (see 2112020015).