Iran is reducing its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action because it said other JCPOA “parties do not abide by theirs,” according to a June 18 press release by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Russian Financial Society, a Russian financial services entity, after OFAC said it helped North Korea evade U.S. sanctions, Treasury said in a June 19 press release. Russian Financial Society provided or attempted to provide “financial, material, technological, or other support for” U.S.-sanctioned Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade Co. Ltd, the press release said. Dandong Zhongsheng is owned by Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s “primary foreign exchange bank,” which is sanctioned by both the U.S. and the United Nations, Treasury said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control will end its practice of allowing sanctions violators to satisfy OFAC penalties through payments to other agencies, changing how it calculates penalties in investigations that involve more than one enforcement agency, OFAC Director Andrea Gacki said.
In the June 18 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Brazil published measures June 5 on enforcement of sanctions against people “investigated or accused of terrorism, its financing or related acts,” according to a post from law firm TozziniFreire. The decree includes “sanctions imposed” by United Nations Security Council resolutions, other countries and Brazilian authorities, TozziniFreire said. Sanctions may include import or export restrictions, assets freezes, the post said, and travel restrictions to Brazil. Brazil plans to publish a list of people and entities subject to the sanctions, which are part of a “movement to expand and consolidate the application of sanctions in Brazil” and to demonstrate “the importance of implementing solid trade compliance controls,” according to the post.
A spokeswoman for China’s National Development and Reform Commission on June 17 gave the clearest indication yet that China may seek to impose restrictions on rare earths exports to retaliate for U.S. tariffs. In response to a question during a regularly scheduled press conference on potential export restrictions, the spokeswoman said China is “resolutely opposed” to “anyone who attempts to use China’s rare earth resources to manufacture products” that are used to “contain and suppress China’s development,” according to an unofficial translation. The spokeswoman also mentioned the possibility of export controls and traceability requirements for Chinese rare earths.
The European Union Council revoked its sanctions regime on the Maldives because of the country’s improving political situation, the council said in a June 17 press release. The sanctions were created in July 2018 to target people or entities that contributed to human rights violations and the “deterioration of the political situation” in the country, but “no persons or entities were listed under this sanctions regime,” the press release said. The council made the decision to revoke the regime after the country held “peaceful and democratic parliamentary elections” in April and committed to “ensure good governance, and promote respect for human rights” during a March policy meeting with the EU.
In the June 14 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Japan’s Center for Information on Security Trade Control (CISTEC) has added Huawei to its Chaser List of sanctioned companies, according to a recent report from Nikkei. The non-profit’s list is not binding, but it is used by Japanese exporters to avoid potential pitfalls, so Huawei’s listing could cause Japanese companies to scale back business with Huawei, the report said. The inclusion was likely automatic after Huawei’s addition to the U.S. Entity List, it said. The Chaser List includes companies sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and the United Nations, among others.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is amending regulations to adjust for inflation by increasing the maximum amount of civil monetary penalties that the agency may impose for certain violations, OFAC said in a June 13 update on its website and a notice scheduled to be published in the June 14 Federal Register. The change was made “to implement for 2019 the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990,” the notice said. OFAC is increasing the maximum amount of penalties that fall under the Trading with the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and the Clean Diamond Trade Act.