The U.S.’s second round of Russian sanctions are expected to have a “minimal” impact, according to a post by Norton Rose Fulbright.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security made several changes to its Entity List, adding, removing and modifying entries for companies in China, Canada, Malaysia, Russia, The United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and more. The changes add 17 entities to the list, modify 23 existing entries for China, Hong Kong and Russia, and remove three entities located in China and the UAE, BIS said in a notice. The changes take effect Aug. 14.
The Treasury Department’s most recent Venezuela-related general licenses “stop just short of a total embargo” on the country’s government, said Adrienne Braumiller, a trade lawyer and member of the Commerce Department’s Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee. Some companies will need to pay close attention to the updated expiration dates for certain general licenses, she said, and banks will be faced with a “new level of depth” to the complexity of screening their customers.
In the Aug. 9-12 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
An Iranian citizen pleaded guilty Aug. 9 to conspiring to illegally export technology from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said in a press release. Negar Ghodskani was arrested for the violations in 2017.
Republican senators urged the European Union to increase sanctions on the Nicolas Maduro-led regime in Venezuela, saying in a letter the EU should “align its sanctions regime” with that of the U.S. and Canada, according to an Aug. 8 Senate Foreign Relations Committee press release. The senators said the U.S. and Canada have imposed sanctions on more than 200 Venezuelan government officials, and the EU’s support would “send a powerful message” to Maduro.
South Korea said it will remove Japan from its so-called white list of trusted trading partners in apparent retaliation for Japan’s similar announcement last week, Reuters reported Aug. 12. The removal from the list, which gives countries a “fast-track trade status,” further escalates tensions between the two countries that have been locked in a trade dispute since early July (see 1908080039).
A Lebanese businessman was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to forfeit $50 million for violating U.S. sanctions and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Justice Department said in an Aug. 8 press release. Kassim Tajideen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to “launder monetary instruments” after the Justice Department said his network of Lebanese and African businesses helped finance Hezbollah.
Switzerland renewed sanctions against 18 Venezuelan senior government officials who were sanctioned by the country in March 2018, according to an Aug. 5 notice from Switzerland’s Federal Department of Economic Affairs and an Aug. 9 post from the European Union Sanctions blog. The renewals took effect Aug. 7.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee appears to be among the advisory committees that aren't eligible for elimination under a recent executive order. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in June that directed all federal departments and agencies to eliminate one-third of their current Federal Advisory Committee Act-authorized committees by Sept. 30 (see 1906170021). Committees authorized by statute aren't eligible for elimination and, according to a search on the FACA database, there are 22 trade-focused committees that are required by statute.