Although the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. allowed Magnachip Semiconductor Corp. to refile its proposed acquisition by Beijing-based Wise Road Capital (see 2109160037), the deal seems highly unlikely to pass CFIUS scrutiny, trade lawyers said. Finding pathways to mitigate the national security risks identified by CFIUS will be extremely challenging, they said, particularly as the U.S. increases its focus on stopping China from acquiring advanced semiconductor equipment.
Russia renewed its import ban on agricultural products, raw materials and food including beef, pork, fruit, vegetables, fish and dairy products from the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Lichtenstein until Dec. 31, 2022. The ban was initially put in place Aug. 6, 2014, in retaliation for Western sanctions on Russia, according to a Sept. 23 post on the EU Sanctions blog.
The European Union General Court dismissed Maher Al-Imam's application to drop his sanctions listing from the EU's Syria sanctions regime, in a Sept. 22 ruling, according to an unofficial translation. Al-Imam challenged the European Council's assessment of the facts that the applicant was an influential businessman in Syria with connections to the Syrian regime. The court ruled that the council properly made this finding and that Al-Imam is an influential businessman in Syria. The court also held that the applicant's right to an effective judicial remedy was not violated and that the restrictions on the applicant's rights are justified given the human rights situation in Syria.
The State Department issued a correction to its Sept. 7 Federal Register document that implemented additional sanctions against Russia for the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny (see 2108230065). The correction fixes a citation to the U.S. Munitions Import List.
Although President Joe Biden’s new executive order authorizing sanctions against Ethiopia (see 2109170036) allows for a potentially broad scope of designations, it also signals that the administration will take a slow, cautious approach to its new authorities, law firms said. Companies shouldn’t expect immediate U.S. action against Ethiopia, the firms said, as the administration seems primarily concerned about deterring bad behavior and assuring humanitarian access can still flow to the region.
President Joe Biden will nominate a U.S. intelligence official to a key sanctions position at the Treasury Department, the White House said Sept. 21. Biden will nominate Shannon Corless, who serves as an intelligence and economic security official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to be assistant secretary in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which oversees the Office of Foreign Assets Control. In her role at the DNI, Corless leads interagency and “foreign partnership activities” related to export controls, investment security, sanctions, supply chains and other trade issues, the White House said. Corless previously served as the director of the DNI’s Investment Security Group, where she worked on investment reviews conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
The United Nations Security Council on Sept. 21 removed an Iraq-related entry from its sanctions list. The UNSC no longer sanctions the Baghdad Stock Exchange, which was first designated in 2004. The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation also announced that it delisted the entity.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned eight people and two entities Sept. 22 for their ties to a Mexican drug cartel. The designations target Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, a boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, and seven other Mexican nationals for providing “material assistance” to Valenzuela Valenzuela: Leonardo Pineda Armenta, Gilberto Martinez Renteria, Jaime Humberto Gonzalez Higuera, Jorge Damian Roman Figueroa, Luis Alberto Carrillo Jimenez, Meliton Rochin Hurtado and Miguel Raymundo Marrufo Cabrera. OFAC also designated Acuaindustria Narciso Mendoza, S.C. de R.L. de C.V. and Club Indios Rojos de Juarez, S.A. de C.V. for being controlled by Rochin Hurtado and Marrufo Cabrera.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted 16 people and 37 entities from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, all of which were originally designated for counter-narcotics reasons. OFAC delisted the 16 people because they changed the behavior that led to their designations, a spokesperson for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said Sept. 22. “These individuals demonstrated a change in behavior and circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Currently, they are no longer engaged in sanctionable activities.” OFAC removed sanctions from the 37 companies because they were originally designated only for being owned or controlled by the people OFAC delisted. “These companies, most of which are defunct, are not independently linked to any individuals who remain on the SDN List,” the spokesperson said. The OFAC notice also includes aliases for the people and entities.
CBP is preparing to issue several notices to extend or update its export-related filing regulations, including two involving electronic export manifest, said Jim Swanson, CBP’s director of the Cargo and Security Controls Division. Swanson, speaking during a Sept. 21 National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones conference, said the agency will soon extend its electronic export manifest pilot program and plans to change regulations to allow CBP to better trace and receive data on exports.