Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a bill that would require the president to impose sanctions on members of the Taliban who support any terrorist group in Afghanistan, who engage in international narcotics trafficking, or who engage in "serious human rights abuses." The three requirements would begin 90 days after passage, the Sept, 27 bill says. Twenty-six Republican senators co-sponsored the bill.
Thailand’s commerce ministry recently announced plans to impose catch-all controls on exports, reexports and transfers of dual-use goods, technology and software that may threaten the country’s security, KPMG said Oct. 1. The measure, which will take effect at year's end, will apply export controls to any dual-use goods that may be used to develop, manufacture or are otherwise associated with weapons of mass destruction, KPMG said. The country’s Department of Foreign Trade will investigate exports that meet that threshold and can “block any shipment of dual-use items that will be delivered to a high-risk end-user if the shipment of dual-use items is classified as risky and requiring control.” The agency also will be able to “block all activities in relation to such dual-use items.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security made a range of “corrections and clarifications” to the Export Administration Regulations to fix inadvertent errors in 11 parts of the EAR, the agency said in a notice. The changes, effective Oct. 5, aim to “provide clarity and facilitate understanding of the regulations” but don’t “change the substance of the EAR,” BIS said. The agency said it made “minor” changes” to EAR parts 732, 734, 736, 738, 740, 744, 748, 750, 770, 772 and 774.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add export controls on certain biological equipment software that may be exploited for biological weapons purposes (see 2109290011), the agency said in an Oct. 5 final rule. The rule, issued in proposed form in November 2020, will align U.S. controls with the multilateral Australia Group by placing restrictions on exports of “nucleic acid assembler and synthesizer” software “capable of designing and building functional genetic elements from digital sequence data,” BIS said. The agency said the software will be added to the Commerce Control List as an emerging technology and falls under BIS’s efforts under the Export Control Reform Act (see 2109080062).
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation delisted five individuals from its Syria sanctions regime in a Sept. 30 notice. The individuals are Nizar Al Assad, a Syrian businessperson; Ahmad Al Qadri, former agriculture and agrarian reform minister; Mohammad Maen Zein-al-Abadin Jazba, former minister of industry; Ali Habib Mahmoud, former minister of defense; and Salam Tohme, former deputy director general of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre.
Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he wasn’t satisfied after the committee’s closed briefing with the Biden administration about the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline last week, adding that the administration “continues its refusal to follow the law.” Senate Republicans have criticized the administration for not imposing more sanctions on the pipeline, arguing that sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act are mandatory (see 2109150017).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 30 removed four entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List because they no longer warrant sanctions. The deletions are for Soho Panama, S.A.; Waked Internacional Panama, S.A.; ABIF Investment, S.A.; and Grupo La Riviera Panama, S.A.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new frequently asked question to clarify that two Venezuela-related general licenses haven’t expired. In FAQ 933, issued Oct. 1, OFAC said both General License 7C and 20B are authorized for an 18-month period, which “renews automatically for an additional 18 months on the first day of each month.” License 7C authorizes certain transactions with PDV Holding and CITGO Holding. License 20B authorizes transactions by certain international organizations with the Venezuelan government.
The U.S. decision to sell Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles to Australia risks undermining export restrictions deployed by the multilateral Missile Technology Control Regime, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Oct. 1. The MTCR requires all members to exercise a strong presumption of denial for exports of especially lethal missile systems, including the Tomahawk missiles, the report said, and the U.S. sale “runs the risk of further undermining” the denial policy. The institute said the decision will likely be a “source of tension and disagreement” among members during the MTCR’s meeting in Russia this week. The White House didn't comment. The State Department, which regulates the exports of a range of lethal weapons, declined to comment because the sale hasn't yet been formally notified to Congress.
While too early to declare a success, the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council has set both sides on a path toward tangible progress on more export controls and investment screening collaboration, experts said. During the inaugural TTC meeting last week, the U.S. and EU agreed to develop “convergent” export controls and share more information to catch malign foreign investments (see 2109290083), which could result in meaningful changes within the next year, the experts said.