The end-of-the-year appropriations compromise worked out between the House and Senate will add tens of millions of dollars for trade enforcement and port technology. The bill, which is expected to pass the Senate by Dec. 20 and has already passed the House of Representatives, will also spend $54 million for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged the country’s foreign affairs minister to build on its Magnitsky Law sanctions regime by ensuring seized assets from sanctioned parties are transferred to their victims, according to a Dec. 13 mandate letter. The measure will increase “support for victims of human rights violations” and will be conducted “with appropriate judicial oversight,” the letter said.
Turkey has failed to properly apply United Nations sanctions and designations, which are often subject to “long delays” and are not effectively enforced, the Financial Action Task Force said in a December report. The FATF said “no penalties or oversight exist for contravention” of certain UN sanctions in Turkey, and the country has been unable to provide “evidence” that it is making “good use” of tools that allow authorities to seize criminal assets and carry out sanctions enforcement. Turkey also has never imposed a terrorism-related designation, the report said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control removed sanctions imposed on Ventspils Freeport Authority and amended a general license to reflect the change, according to a Dec. 18 notice. Ventspils was designated Dec. 9 for being owned by a sanctioned Latvian oligarch (see 1912090019), but is being removed from U.S. sanctions because the Latvian government passed legislation “effectively ending” the oligarch’s ownership, Treasury said in a Dec. 18 press release. OFAC also replaced Global Magnitsky General License 1 with General License 1A, which removes any mention of the Ventspils Freeport Authority.
The power of U.S. sanctions has been “severely weakened” by the Trump administration's failure to follow through on lifting designations and is hampered by a lack of transparency, according to a Dec. 16 report from the Center for a New American Security. The administration can take several steps to maximize the effectiveness of its sanctions regimes, the report said, which will also indirectly “limit the unintentional escalation of international competition.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control released a quarterly report on licensing activities related to exports of agricultural goods, medicine and medical devices to Iran and Sudan from October to December 2018, OFAC said in a Dec. 17 notice. The report contains information on 36 of the licenses, including statistics on how many were approved or denied.
An Indonesian citizen and three Indonesian companies were charged after violating U.S. export laws and sanctions against Iran, the Justice Department said in a Dec. 17 press release. Sunarko Kuntjoro and three companies -- PT MS Aero Support (PTMS), PT Kandiyasa Energi Utama (PTKEU), and PT Antasena Kreasi (PTAK) -- illegally exported U.S.-origin goods and technology to sanctioned Mahan Air, an Iranian airline, the press release said. The exports violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, the Export Administration Regulations and the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations.
The Government Accountability Office and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General each released a report on Dec. 17 that noted various issues within CBP's drawback program. The GAO's report suggested that CBP work to flag excessive export submissions and “establish a reliable system of record for proof of export,” among other things. The DHS IG report found that CBP “lacked appropriate documentation retention periods to ensure importers and claimants maintained support for drawback transactions” and didn't scrutinize prior drawback claims enough for claimants during 2011 to 2018.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation released a Dec. 17 guidance on determining whether a sanctioned entity is involved in a transaction. The guidance contains links to OFSI’s consolidated list and describes difficulties that may rise when screening certain companies, including complicated ownership stakes and the use of shell companies. The guidance details a case study involving the Libya African Investment Portfolio and the Libyan Investment Authority, two sanctioned entities with hotel subsidiaries that may avoid screening detection. The guidance also offers advice for steps to take after discovering a sanctioned entity in a transaction.
The State Department issued a Dec. 16 sanctions advisory about exports of graphite electrodes and needle coke to Iran, saying those materials subject exporters to “significant sanctions risk.” Both materials are “essential” to Iran’s steel industry, the State Department said, which is sanctioned by the U.S. Sanctions extend to producers and exporters of the materials along with “port operators, shippers, shipping companies, and vessel operators and owners,” who may be subject to blocking sanctions, even if the intended end-user is not in Iran’s steel sector.