The U.K. on Oct. 6 amended a Russia-related General License covering "basic needs, routine holding and maintenance and the payment of legal fees," the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said. The amendment alters the license to "allow any payments in connection with the Insolvency Proceedings of VTB Capital plc and its UK subsidiaries."
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week announced a broad set of new export controls it said will restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors. The controls, outlined in an interim final rule that will take effect in phases, will impose new restrictions on a range of advanced computing semiconductor chips and semiconductor manufacturing items, impose controls on transactions for supercomputer end-uses and certain integrated circuit end-uses, and introduce new restrictions on transactions involving certain entities on the Entity List.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended and reissued the Libyan Sanctions Regulations to include more guidance, definitions, general licenses and “other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public,” OFAC said. Effective Oct. 3, the new regulations replace the previous regulations published in 2011 in “abbreviated form."
More exporters should make use of License Exception STA (Strategic Trade Authorization), which could reduce workload for the government and allow certain exports to move faster, officials from the Commerce and Defense departments said. “Frankly, it's not utilized as much as we would like it to be utilized,” Matt Borman, an official with Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, said during a Sept. 27 defense industry conference hosted by IDEEA. “To anyone who's considering STA-eligible exports, please, please use them as opposed to having your U.S. supplier come in and go through the traditional licensing process.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended and reissued the Western Balkans Stabilization Regulations and Central African Republic Sanctions Regulations to include more guidance, definitions, general licenses and “other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public,” OFAC said in a pair of notices this week. Effective Sept. 29, the new regulations replace the previous Western Balkans regulations published in 2011 and the CAR regulations published in “abbreviated form” in 2014.
The State Department is monitoring whether the U.S. delivery of certain F-35 aircraft -- which were revealed this month to contain certain Chinese components -- violated export controls, senior agency official Mike Miller said. He said the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is “certainly tracking” the case but declined to say whether the agency will issue any penalties. “As to what compliance actions we may be taking with the company,” Miller said, “I can’t speak to that in specific.”
The State Department is seeking comments on an information collection involving requests to change end-user, end-use and “destination of hardware” information and open general licenses, the agency said in a notice this week. Those requests are submitted to the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls before DDTC can approve exports of certain defense goods to parties other than those stated on a license. Comments are due Nov. 28.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published in the Federal Register a group of previously issued general licenses. One notice covers two general licenses issued under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations and the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, and the other notice covers three general licenses issued under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions program. The full text of each license appears in the respective notice.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week updated an Iran-related general license and guidance to expand the types of internet and communications services and exports that can be provided to Iran. Updated General License D2 “dramatically increases” U.S. support for internet freedom in Iran, a State Department official said, adding that the announcement brings U.S. sanctions guidance "in line with changes in modern technology.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated 22 individuals and two entities connected with Russia's war in Ukraine. The designated individuals have furthered Russia's objectives in Ukraine, both before and during the invasion, OFAC said in a Sept. 15 notice. “Today we’re taking steps to further degrade Russia’s ability to rebuild its military, hold perpetrators of violence accountable, and further financially isolate Putin," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a news release.