The European Council adopted new rules modernizing the European Union's system for export controls for dual-use civil and military items, the EC said in a May 10 news release. The regulations had been in talks for years but were finally agreed to Nov. 9 (see 2011100021). The regime includes stricter controls for cyber-surveillance technology that may be used for human rights abuses, new general export licenses to authorize shipments of cryptographic items and certain “intra-group technology transfers,” and mechanisms for greater coordination between members and with trading partners.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction for Chinese big data processing technology company Luokung Technology Corp., temporarily blocking the company's designation as a Chinese military company. Judge Rudolph Contreras issued the injunction in a May 5 ruling, finding it likely Luokung would prevail in its case against the designation. The publicly traded Chinese tech giant claims that the Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC) designation issued by the Department of Defense was made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, was arbitrary and capricious, and that the evidence in hand was not substantial enough to support a finding of state control over the company.
Uyghur Human Rights Project Board Chair Nury Turkel told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that his nonprofit wants swift passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would create a rebuttable presumption that goods from China's Xinjiang province were made with forced labor. "The 11 current Withhold-release orders (WROs) are a wholly inadequate response to the gravity of the crimes, the harm to American workers whose wages are undercut by forced-labor competition, and the unwitting complicity of American consumers who buy face masks, hair weaves, cotton apparel, and solar panels produced by the forced labor of Muslim Uyghurs," he said in his prepared testimony.
The U.S. extended national emergencies authorizing sanctions against Iraq, the Central African Republic and Syria, the White House said May 6. The White House said actions in all three countries continue to “pose an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
Following the Department of Justice's first resolution of action under a new export control tool, greater efforts should be made to conduct export-related due diligence and act on those recommendations, according to a May 6 analysis from Sidley Austin. Merely conducting audits of exports and sanctions is not good enough anymore, Sidley said. Implementing audit recommendations and putting in place a robust process to receive, investigate and elevate whistleblower complaints should be a priority following the DOJ's settlement with German software company SAP SE.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she plans to heavily enforce Entity List restrictions and more aggressively tackle the agency's emerging and foundational technology export control mandate. And although the agency’s review of China policies is ongoing (see 2101250049), she again stressed that Commerce doesn’t plan to remove export restrictions from Huawei and is looking for more companies to add to the Entity List.
The European Commission halted efforts to ratify a massive investment deal with China following back-and-forth sanctions over China's human rights violations committed against its Uighur Muslim ethnic minority, The Guardian reported May 4. “We now in a sense have suspended … political outreach activities from the European Commission side,” Valdis Dombrovskis, the commission’s executive vice president, said. The deal, called the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, was negotiated in December and secured greater market access for European Union companies in China along with certain questionable concessions on subsidies and labor standards (see 2101250052). “As long as members of the European Parliament are on sanction[s] list,” ratifying the agreement is “impossible,” Michael Reiterer, distinguished professor at Brussels School of Governance, told The Guardian.
The U.S. could rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal (see 2104220008) as early as this summer, a senior State Department official said, but much of the timing will depend on Iran. The official said both countries have had “constructive” talks in recent meetings but said Iran is being unrealistic about the number of sanctions it wants the U.S. to lift.
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The European Union finished up two examinations under its Trade Barriers Regulation concerning Saudi Arabia's restrictions on market access to EU ceramic tiles and Mexico's export restrictions on tequila, the European Commission said in a May 4 news release. Following the reviews, the EC said it would engage Saudi Arabia to ensure a “swift and efficient removal” of the kingdom's new technical regulations hindering 75% to 80% of EU exports of ceramic tiles. If engagement fails, the EU could consider taking the issue to the World Trade Organization. In Mexico's case, a measure blocking exports of tequila is under a number of administrative proceedings, so the EC will continue to monitor the situation. The Trade Barriers Regulation allows the EC to review global trade measures that violate international trade rules. Under the regulation, companies, industries, associations and member states may lodge a complaint against a perceived rule violation, prompting the EC to review and potentially act against the violation.