The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 18 people and six entities under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for human rights violations, Treasury said in a Dec. 10 press release. The people are located in Burma, Pakistan, Libya, Slovakia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, and the six entities are all located in Slovakia.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 2-6 in case you missed them.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's upcoming set of proposed rules on emerging technologies may not be published until early next year, another sign of the delay that has plagued the rules since Commerce first announced them more than a year ago. Commerce has three emerging technology rule proposals in “various stages of clearance,” Hillary Hess, director of the BIS Regulatory Policy Division, said during a Dec. 10 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. The agency hopes to publish one proposal before the end of the year, Hess said, but urged committee members to take any prediction with “at least a handful of salt.”
The Commerce Department is considering a host of expanded restrictions on foreign shipments to Huawei containing U.S. technology, said Rich Ashooh, Commerce’s assistant secretary for export administration. The agency is discussing expanding the Direct Product Rule -- which subjects certain foreign-made products containing U.S. technology to U.S. regulations -- and a broadened de minimis rule, Ashooh said during a Dec. 10 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Ashooh’s comments confirmed details in a Nov. 29 Reuters report that said the U.S. was discussing ways to restrict more foreign exports to Huawei (see 1912040014).
The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued guidance Dec. 6 on best practices for internal compliance programs involving strategic goods, technologies and sanctions. The 16-page guidance, produced in collaboration with the country’s Central Office for Import and Export, sets out responsibilities for businesses and exporters involved in the strategic technology sector. It contains practices for export screening procedures, verifying end-users and end uses, and performing audits and training. The guidance also contains European Union regulations on exporting controlled technology, including those related to cyber surveillance, human rights abuses, and “torture goods.”
A U.S. insurance company was fined about $170,000 for violating the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a Dec. 9 enforcement notice. Allianz Global Risks US Insurance Company (AGR US), a subsidiary of Germany-based Allianz SE, committed more than 6,000 violations of the CACR, OFAC said.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation renewed sanctions against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed under the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Act of 2010, according to a Dec. 5 notice. The sanctions block transactions with Mohammed and freeze any of his financial accounts associated with the United Kingdom.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two new Venezuela-related frequently asked questions concerning filing a lawsuit against sanctioned Venezuelan people or entities and conducting an auction for shares of a sanctioned Venezuelan entity, according to a Dec. 9 notice.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned more than 40 people and entities involved in corruption networks in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and issued a general license to allow for wind-down activities, according to a Dec. 9 notice.
Chubb Limited, a Swiss holding company, was fined about $65,000 for more than 20,000 violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in an enforcement notice. The violations were the responsibility of ACE Limited -- an insurance and reinsurance service provider with locations in Switzerland, U.S. and Britain -- which merged with Chubb Corp. in 2016 to form Chubb Limited.