The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended three Venezuela-related general licenses and issued frequently asked questions for guidance, OFAC said in a June 6 notice. OFAC amended General License 7A, which authorizes certain transactions related to PDV Holding, Inc. and CITGO Holding, Inc; General License 8, which authorizes certain transactions involving Petroleos de Venezuela for entities operating in Venezuela; and General License 13, which authorizes certain transactions involving Nynas AB. The addition to OFAC’s FAQs concerns the export and re-export of “diluents” to Venezuela. Diluents such as crude oil and naphtha "play a key role in the transportation and exportation of Venezuelan petroleum," which is a major revenue source for the regime of Nicolas Maduro, which the U.S. seeks to suppress.
The European Commission referred Spain to the European Union’s Court of Justice for imposing “disproportionate penalties” on Spanish taxpayers who violate sanctions, the EC said in a June 6 press release. Spanish taxpayers must report on any properties, bank accounts or financial assets they hold abroad, the press release said, and are sanctioned if the information is not reported accurately or on time, sometimes facing sanctions “higher than those for similar infringements in a purely domestic situation.” The EC said Spain’s sanctions penalties are “disproportionate and discriminatory,” and may “deter businesses and private individuals from investing or moving across borders in the Single Market.” Spain’s sanctions are “in conflict with the fundamental freedoms of the EU,” the EC said.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security renewed the temporary denial order of export privileges issued to Mahan Airways and several affiliated people and entities in 2018, according to an order signed by the Office of Export Enforcement on June 5. The order was renewed to “prevent an imminent violation” of more regulations, Commerce said.
House members and experts made the case for a quick and long-term reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank of the United States during a June 4 House Financial Services Committee hearing, saying the move could significantly benefit U.S. exporters and help counter China’s export credit agencies and state subsidies. The hearing came about a month after the Senate voted to confirm three appointees to the bank’s board of directors, giving the bank enough directors for a quorum to approve transactions of more than $10 million (see 1905080073).
The Commerce Department is planning to expand end-use checks for export controls, said Nazak Nikakhtar, the nominee for Commerce’s undersecretary for industry and security, a move she said is part of a broader reform movement to improve “export control coordination.”
The European Union Council issued a mandate on June 5 for modernizing the EU’s current regime of export controls of dual-use items. The 115-page mandate includes new provisions for “harmonising licensing processes” through new general export authorizations and new controls for “supplying technical assistance related to sensitive items.” It also includes "a new mention of cyber surveillance items highlighting that the competent authorities have the possibility to control such items using the current regulation as for all non-listed dual-use items that could be used for directing or committing serious violation of human rights," the Council said in a May 6 press release. “The new rules will introduce a number of changes to the EU export control system of dual-use items to adapt it to the changing technological, economic and political circumstances,” the notice said. “They will also simplify and improve the current rules and optimise the EU licensing architecture.”
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced the status of enforcement procedures for the Basel Convention Act, which controls the export and import of “specified hazardous wastes,” the METI said in a May 28 notice. Among several requirements, the act requires that exporters or importers of hazardous waste obtain approval from the METI for “disposal or recycling” and requires traders to “carry a movement document” for the waste.
The State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs imposed statutory debarments under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations on 23 people who violated the Arms Export Control Act, the department said in a notice scheduled to be published in the June 6 Federal Register. The 23 people have been convicted of violating the AECA, the notice said, and are banned from receiving export licenses for defense products or services for three years after the conviction. The 23 people must also request reinstatement from the State Department before completing any transactions subject to the ITAR, the notice said, and are allowed to request reinstatement one year after the debarment.
An Iranian citizen who lived for a time in Turkey was charged in two separate indictments for violating U.S. export laws, including several counts of conspiracy to export goods to Iran and to a Specially Designated National, the Department of Justice said in a June 4 press release. Peyman Amiri Larijani -- operations manager for Kral Havacilik IC VE DIS Ticaret Sirketi (Kral Aviation) -- was indicted on 34 counts of violating export laws in 2015 and four counts in 2016.
Panelists warned against increasingly strict export controls and criticized the Trump administration's handling of the Huawei blacklisting during a June 4 Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing on “Confronting Threats From China: Assessing Controls on Technology and Investment, and Measures to Combat Opioid Trafficking.” The U.S. is drawing dangerously close to shrinking markets for U.S. semiconductor exporters, the panelists said, a move that could prove devastating for the industry. They also suggested the Trump administration’s restrictions on Huawei are too broad and have hurt U.S. exporters as well as damaged trade talks between the two sides.