Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 20-24 in case they were missed.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a “finding of violation” against U.S.-based State Street Bank and Trust Co. (SSBT) after it violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran, OFAC said in a May 28 notice. The bank was not fined, OFAC said, partly because the bank’s managers were likely unaware of the violations and because the bank cooperated with OFAC and improved its compliance program.
The oversight of inspection and supervision of China’s exported and imported toys has been granted to China’s General Administration of Customs, according to a May 23 alert from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The change gives China Customs “responsibility for the inspection” of all traded toys listed in the “Catalogue of Import and Export Commodities Subject to Inspection,” HKTDC said. All toy exports and imports not listed in the catalogue will “remain subject to spot-checks in accordance with the prevailing GAC regulations,” the alert said.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee Export Modernization Working Group will work closely with CBP "in the development of regulatory change to mandate the use of electronic export manifest for all modes and review existing CBP export regulations," said Jim Swanson, director of CBP Cargo Security and Controls Division, in a government paper on the working group issue. CBP released the document ahead of the May 30 COAC meeting in Laredo, Texas. The group will also "review and assist in the development of the operational requirements for electronic export manifest and assist in the expansion of the current pilots to full operational status," Swanson said. Another goal is to help with implementing Post Departure filing enhancements. The work group will also "continue to review export materials that have been previously generated and formulate recommendations regarding their relevance and subsequent disposition in the context of a more modern supply chain," according to an executive summary from the Secure Trade Lanes Subcommittee. "After engaging in full deliberation and discussion, the Work Group shall advise the COAC of any advice or recommendations."
The United Nations Security Council removed Mazen Salah Mohammed from its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List, lifting an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, according to a May 21 U.N. press release. The sanctions were lifted after the Security Council Committee received a “delisting request” for Mohammed, an Iraqi national, by the “designating State," the press release said. The U.N. lists Mohammed as a member of Ansar Al-Islam, a Sunni Muslim militant group based in Iraq.
The Commerce Department plans to roll back regulations that make it easier for U.S. exporters to sell goods that have both civilian and military purposes, making it more difficult for China to acquire U.S. technology, according to a May 23 report by Politico. As part of its plans, Commerce is considering ending a general policy of approving export licenses for products bound for civilian use, instead switching to reviews on a “case-by-case basis,” the report said. Commerce’s plans include “four regulatory actions” that target China under the Export Control Reform Act, including options that would revoke two license exceptions relating to shipping restricted technology to China and an option that would expand a ban on U.S. defense-related exports to China, the report said.
The Department of State published its spring 2019 regulatory agenda. The agenda includes a new mention of a proposal to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to include definitions for "activities that are not exports, re-exports, or retransfers." The activities include "launching items into space; providing technical data to U.S. persons within the United States or within a single country abroad; and moving a defense article between the states, possessions, and territories of" the U.S., State said. The proposal also "removes from ITAR licensing requirements the electronic transmission and storage of unclassified technical data via foreign communications infrastructure when the data is secured sufficiently to prevent access by foreign persons." Under the proposal, State would also amend the ITAR to create definitions for “access information” and revise definitions of release to include “the improper provision of access information to foreign persons.” State is aiming to issue the proposal in September, it said.
The agenda also includes a rule that would revise Categories I, II and III of the U.S. Munitions List to include items that gives the U.S. a “critical military or intelligence advantage or otherwise warrant control at the highest level.” The rule states that exports of “commercially available firearms and ammunition,” removed from Category I and III, will continue to be controlled under the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Commerce Control List. State said the transition from the Munitions List to the CCL “will result in a net reduction in regulatory burden for the affected manufacturing and export community.” State aims to issue the rule in May 2019, it said.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced three bipartisan measures calling for sanctions against countries it said are involved in corruption, human rights abuses and trade that harms U.S. national security. The measures, advanced on May 22, called for sanctions on countries in the Northern Triangle, Georgia and Turkey.
A member of Syria’s ruling family forfeited more than $30 million from her United Kingdom bank account after an investigation by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency revealed the money was the result of an evasion of European Union financial sanctions, according to a May 21 press release. NCA said the money, transferred via 56 “cash deposits” across England, was “consistent with the use of an informal value transfer system which may result in the laundering of criminal cash.” The activity violated EU sanctions designed to “restrict the use and availability of Syrian regime funds,” the press release said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on Argentina-based Goldpharma, which it called a drug trafficking and money laundering organization, and several of its members, Treasury said in a May 23 notice. In total, OFAC designated the company, eight Argentine nationals and 16 other entities under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act for operating as “significant foreign narcotics” traffickers and contributing to the “synthetic opioid crisis,” Treasury said.