After more than 25 industry associations urged the Commerce Department to grant more time for comments on its next advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, top Commerce officials said it will consider the request but suggested that U.S. industries have had ample time to prepare comments.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the Census Bureau plan to issue a proposed rule for routed export transactions during the summer or fall of 2019, said Sharron Cook, a senior export policy analyst with BIS, at BIS’s annual export controls conference on July 10. The long-awaited proposed rule is expected to update parties’ responsibilities under the Export Administration Regulations in a routed export transaction.
Vinson & Elkins hired Damara Chambers, previously at Covington & Burling, as a partner and co-leader of the firm's national security practice, Vinson & Elkins said in a news release. "Chambers focuses her practice on national security reviews conducted by [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] and other agencies, including the Defense Security Service and the Department of Energy in connection with the mitigation of foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI), and the State Department in connection with reviews pursuant to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations," the firm said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on three Iran-backed Hizballah and Lebanese government officials who helped “bolster Iran’s malign activities,” Treasury said in a July 9 press release. The announcement came two days after the State Department threatened more Iran sanctions in response to the country breaching the enriched uranium limit set in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (see 1907080019).
An Office of Foreign Assets Control official said the agency within the Treasury is trying to “expedite” responses on license applications but does not have the resources to lift certain compliance burdens that have caused headaches for U.S. companies, such as regulations that require businesses to determine which companies are owned 50 percent or more by a sanctioned party. “That’s something were trying to work on,” said Susan Demske, OFAC’s assistant director for regulatory affairs.
The Commerce Department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei in order to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, Commerce undersecretary for the industry and security.
In the July 8 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Gibraltar Port and Law Enforcement detained and seized a ship it said was violating European Union sanctions against Syria, Gibraltar said in a July 4 press release. Authorities stopped the “super tanker,” Grace 1, after suspecting it was carrying crude oil bound for Syria’s Banyas Oil Refinery Company, which is sanctioned by the EU. Gibraltar later confirmed the ship was "loaded to capacity with crude oil" and was stopped after it entered Gibraltar territorial waters, according to a July 8 press release. Reuters reported the ship is Iranian and flies a Panama flag.
Iran surpassed the enriched uranium limit that was agreed to as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the country announced July 7, sparking concern from the European Union and threats of additional sanctions by the U.S.
Jersey’s minister for external relations put forth a sanctions law last fall that has been enacted to “preserve Jersey’s power” to impose European Union sanctions after the United Kingdom leaves the EU, according to a press release and a July 3 notice. The law gives Jersey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France, the right to impose the same sanctions as under the U.K.’s current regime, including the U.K.’s Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act, after Brexit. The change takes effect July 19, the notice said.