Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 12-15 in case they were missed.
The U.S. will continue sanctioning Venezuela's mining sector and will increase efforts to target countries and foreign groups that support the Nicolas Maduro regime, a top Treasury Department official said.
The Commerce Department has been “slow” to complete a series of export control reviews mandated by the Export Control Reform Act, including the agency’s upcoming controls on emerging and foundational technologies, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said.
The Commerce Department’s decision to renew the temporary general license for Huawei “won't have a substantial impact on Huawei's business either way,” the company said in a Nov. 19 statement. Huawei said the 90-day reprieve (see 1911180036), which authorizes a narrow set of transactions with the U.S. despite Huawei’s placement on the Entity List, “does not change the fact that Huawei continues to be treated unfairly.”
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its Iran sanctions to correct identifying information for Mehr Bank, OFSI said Nov. 18. Mehr Bank is still subject to sanctions.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four people and five entities related to financial, procurement and recruitment networks for ISIS, Treasury said in a Nov. 18 press release. The people and entities are located in Turkey and Afghanistan. The sanctioned parties include Sahloul Money Exchange Company, Al-Sultan Money Transfer Company, Tawasul Company, Ismail Bayaltun, Ahmet Bayaltun, ACL Ithalat Ihracat, Nejaat Social Welfare Organization, Sayed Habib Ahmad Khan and Rohullah Wakil.
The State Department sanctioned Julio Cesar Gandarilla Bermejo, Cuba’s minister of the interior, for human rights violations in Venezuela, the agency said in a Nov. 16 press release. State also sanctioned Bermejo’s children, Julio Cesar Gandarilla Sarmiento and Alejandro Gandarilla Sarmiento.
The Congressional Research Service issued a report Nov. 15 on Iran sanctions, detailing the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign and Europe’s efforts to keep trade flowing to the country, and providing an overview of the current state of restrictive measures against Iran. The report also contains an appendix of all sanctions imposed against Iran by the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and others.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross named Cordell Hull deputy undersecretary for industry and security and Joe Semsar the deputy undersecretary at the International Trade Administration, a Commerce spokesperson said Nov. 18. The two were appointed to their positions Nov. 12, the spokesperson said.
The Commerce Department renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and 114 of its non-U.S. affiliates until Feb. 16, Commerce announced Nov. 18. The renewal -- the license’s second extension (see 1908190039) since it was issued in May -- authorizes certain specific activities and transactions, including those related to existing network operations of mobile services, despite Huawei's addition to the Entity List.