The U.S. plans to send a delegation to the United Arab Emirates this week to discuss sanctions compliance and warn businesses and banks against facilitating Iranian commerce, a State Department spokesperson said. The delegation will be led by Andrea Gacki, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and include other Treasury and State Department officials.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 10 issued a new general license authorizing certain non-commercial, personal remittances to Afghanistan. General License No. 16 authorizes certain transactions involving the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, or any entity they own by 50% or more if those transactions are “ordinarily incident and necessary to the transfer” of personal remittances to Afghanistan.
The U.S.’s new multilateral export control initiative includes a written “code of conduct” for licensing decisions for sensitive exports and new partnerships with allies to better control emerging technologies. The U.S. effort, previewed earlier this week ahead of the virtual democracy summit (see 2112090030), was officially announced Dec. 10 alongside Australia, Denmark and Norway, and includes support from other trading partners, including Canada, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed investment restrictions on SenseTime Group Ltd., a major Chinese technology company, and sanctioned 15 people and 10 other companies for human rights abuses, the agency said Dec. 10. SenseTime, which had prepared to price shares Dec. 10 in its initial public offering in Hong Kong, will now be subject to a U.S. investment ban and added to OFAC’s list of companies with ties to China’s military (see 2106030067).
The European Union hasn’t yet finished rolling out its electronic licensing regime for dual-use exports but hopes to finish the project next year, said Marcello Irlando, an export control official with the European Commission. “Obviously, we are working on it,” Irlando said during the EU's annual export control forum this week. The effort is aimed at simplifying dual-use license applications through a website portal, and has so far been tested in Latvia and Romania, Irlando said. Officials had hoped to add other countries and finalize the effort this year (see 1912240008), but Irlando said countries are still being added. Several EU member states have asked about joining, he said, adding that the commission hopes to deploy the system in Italy, Belgium, Slovenia and potentially others next year.
The European Union extended its sanctions regime on the Congo for another year, until Dec. 12, 2022, the European Council said. The restrictive measures apply to 10 individuals and subject them to an asset freeze and travel ban. Persons and entities in the EU are forbidden from making funds available to listed individuals, either directly or indirectly.
The Environmental Protection Agency released a final rule Dec. 9 setting new significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 45 chemical substances subject to Premanufacture Notices (PMNs). As a result of the SNURs, persons planning to manufacture, import or process any of the chemical substances for an activity designated as a significant new use by this rule are required to notify EPA at least 90 days in advance. Importers of chemicals subject to these SNURs will need to certify their compliance with the SNUR requirements, and exporters of these chemical substances will now become subject to export notification requirements. The final rule takes effect Feb. 8, 2022. The SNURs cover the following:
The United Nations Security Council on Dec. 8 removed two entries from its sanctions list. Designations no longer apply to Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmed and Husam Muhammad Amin Al-Yassin, both Iraqi nationals.
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.