A U.S.-sanctioned leader of a Guatemalan drug trafficking group was sentenced to 23 years in prison, the Justice Department said in a Feb. 24 press release. In 2010, Waldemar Lorenzana-Lima was listed as a specially designated narcotics trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act due to “significant roles” in international trafficking. Lorenzana-Lima and his family allegedly used a family business and agricultural holdings in Guatemala as a front to move the drugs through Central America.
The Trump administration should sanction Russia for interference in the 2020 presidential election, Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said in a Feb. 24 letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The three senators urged the administration to sanction anyone responsible for the interference or for providing “material or financial support” to those responsible. “It is long past time” for the administration to enact sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the letter said.
The Red Cross was granted a sanctions waiver by the United Nations to supply virus-fighting goods to North Korea to combat the coronavirus epidemic, according to a Feb. 24 news release from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The Red Cross said the UN granted the waiver with “speed and urgent attention given,” which will allow the country to import certain humanitarian supplies.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security issued guidance Feb. 25 clarifying that the virus causing the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, will continue to be classified under the Export Control Classification Number EAR99, meaning export licenses are generally not required for exports of the virus. BIS said it issued the guidance in response to a report recently published by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, which classified the virus, SARS-CoV-2, as belonging to a species similar to SARS-CoV, a virus controlled under the Export Administration Regulations under ECCN 1C351.a.46. But because SARS-CoV-2 is a “genetically distinct virus,” “causes a clinically distinct disease” and the “specifics of the disease … are still being investigated,” BIS said it considers SARS-CoV-2 to be “distinct” from SARS-CoV, adding that it does not yet warrant increased controls. BIS did warn, however, that some end-users, end-uses and destination countries may require a license for exports of EAR99 items, and exporters “should continue to screen all requests in accordance” with the Export Administration Regulations.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 18-21 in case you missed them.
A pro-free trade think tank in Canada published an analysis of the new NAFTA, known as CUSMA in Canada, and finds it lacking. “CUSMA has little traditional tariff liberalization, introducing only minor changes to market access compared to the NAFTA, and limited improvements in trade facilitation, while at the same time introducing a number of features that promise to be more restrictive of trade,” wrote the authors of the C.D. Howe Institute paper.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security will send an information collection proposal to the Office of Management and Budget relating to foreign availability procedures, according to a notice published in the Federal Register. The information collection is used by Congress and industry to make foreign availability determinations under the Export Administration Regulations. Comments are due to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov by March 26.
The Commerce Department plans to hold the first meeting of its Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee this spring amid several delays in issuing prospective members their security clearances. A Bureau of Industry and Security spokesperson said the agency remains “on target” to hold the meeting before the summer despite Commerce officials originally scheduling the meeting for December, and then January, before pushing it back each time (see 2001290032).
Crowell & Moring hired Caroline Brown, who previously was an attorney at the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as a partner, the law firm said in a Feb. 20 new release. “Brown will work with financial institutions, multinational corporations, and companies launching emerging technologies to advise clients on anti-money laundering (AML) and economic sanctions compliance and enforcement challenges,” the firm said. “She will also help clients navigate review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).”
Clarification: The new Licensing for International Trade & Enterprise digital service will be phased in from the end of June to November (see 2002190038), the United Kingdom Department for International Trade's Export Control Joint Unit said. During this time exporters will be given advance notification of any changes, and there will be a training period for users.