An amendment to the United Kingdom's Russia sanctions regime expanding the criteria under which individuals and entities can be listed entered into force Feb. 10. The revised regulation allows the U.K. to sanction people who have been involved in destabilizing Ukraine or obtaining a benefit from backing the Russian government, among other things. Parliament defined a person being "involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia" as someone running a government-affiliated business, engaging in business of economic significance to the Russian government, carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance to the government or owning or controlling a government-affiliated entity.
The Senate on Feb. 9 confirmed Neil MacBride, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be general counsel for the Treasury Department. MacBride, a former federal prosecutor who will advise Treasury on sanctions work, said during his nomination hearing last year that he will “ensure that the department’s regulatory actions comply with the laws Congress enacts.” He also said he knows “firsthand the importance” of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and other Treasury agencies.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and 27 Republican colleagues, introduced a bill that would require the administration to impose Magnitsky Act sanctions if any member or person associated with the International Olympic Committee supported "a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights" against any Olympic or Paralympic Winter games participant. However, the president can choose not to impose sanctions if he determines that a waiver is in the country's national security interests. The text of the bill, which was published Feb. 10, says that participants aren't just athletes -- they can be spectators, members of the press, "government and private officials ... and persons involved in economic activity related to the Games."
Alaska's two Republican senators, Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, introduced a bill that would ban the import of Russian seafood products. Russia doesn't import U.S. seafood products anymore, in retaliation for sanctions Western nations imposed after Russia invaded Crimea, part of Ukraine, a region that it later annexed. The bill, which the senators announced Dec. 11 but introduced earlier this week, is called the U.S.-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act.
The Russian government planned to meet with about 100 domestic electronics manufacturers, consumers and financial firms Feb. 12 to discuss methods to avoid various trade restrictions imposed by foreign countries, according to an unofficial translation of a Feb. 11 report from the Russian daily Kommersant. The talks, planned as Russia prepares a military invasion into Ukraine, were expected to include a “strategic session” on how the Russian companies can “diversify import channels” to mitigate the restrictions. Officials were to speak about “adjusting measures to support electronics manufacturers, developing independent chip production in Russia, as well as the prospects for import substitution in the segment of laptops, workstations and servers,” the report said. Companies expected to participate include SberBank, Rostelecom, Baikal Electronics and Rostec. The U.S., the European Union and others are preparing a new set of export controls and sanctions against Russia if it further invades Ukraine (see 2201250042).
The Bureau of Industry and Security added seven entities to the Entity List for nuclear and nonproliferation reasons, including one company in China, five in Pakistan and one in the United Arab Emirates, BIS said. The additions take effect Feb. 14.
BIS is preparing to “soon” issue another set of export controls that will cover both emerging and foundational technologies, said Matt Borman, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s deputy assistant secretary of export administration. The controls, briefly mentioned by a senior BIS official last month (see 2201280045), would represent the first set of formal export restrictions over foundational technologies since Congress passed the Export Control Reform Act in 2018.
A new London School of Economics and Political Science report commissioned by the European Commission reviews the implementation and enforcement of environmental and labor provisions in free trade agreements in an effort to bolster the commission's Trade and Sustainable Development approach. The report, "Comparative Analysis of Trade and Sustainable Development Provisions in Free Trade Agreements," studied FTAs involving the EU, Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the U.S., showing a large variation of enforcement and implementation of TSD measures. The commission said the report found that cooperation is key for TSD implementation, even for countries that use trade sanctions for TSD enforcement.
CBP is ending a special bond program for export consolidators at the Miami and Port Everglades ports of entry, it said in a notice. The agency is giving participants in the In-Bond Export Consolidator (IBEC) Program a one-year grace period, until Feb. 11, 2023, to “transition their facility status to either a customs bonded warehouse, container freight station, foreign trade zone, or a facility operated as a non-vessel operating common carrier, depending on their business needs, and also obtain the appropriate bond(s).”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is removing sanctions regulations on Burundi, it said in a notice. It follows President Joe Biden's Nov. 18 executive order (see 2111180014) declaring an end to the state of national emergency in Burundi, citing the "significantly altered" situation over the past year, "including the transfer of power following elections in 2020, significantly decreased violence, and ... reforms across multiple sectors."