A new U.K. general license issued Jan. 14 allows certain people and entities to "make funds available" to sanctioned parties to pay for food and beverages, medicines and medical products, and personal and household products. The license, issued by the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, authorizes those transactions for up to two months after the party was sanctioned, and the payments can't exceed about $426 per month. The license doesn't apply to certain sanctioned parties, including those designated under a counter-terrorism regime or by the U.N. It takes effect Jan. 15.
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Outgoing Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said he would advise his successor to continue coordinating export controls with allies and to not immediately turn to extraterritorial restrictions, such as the foreign direct product rule.
The Bureau of Industry and Security released four new rules Jan. 15, including one that will make more changes to its semiconductor-related export controls -- including by creating a new list of trusted chip designers and service providers -- another rule that will place new controls on certain biotechnology equipment and technology, and two rules that will add companies to the Entity List.
Many signs are pointing toward the incoming Trump administration embracing the new sweeping U.S. export controls on AI chips, an AI technology policy researcher said this week.
Alejo Cabranes, former senior policy adviser with the Treasury Department, is joining DOJ as an attorney in its National Security Division, he announced on LinkedIn. Cabranes has worked at Treasury since 2023, where he helped implement sanctions and anti-money laundering policies.
An indictment was unsealed on Jan. 7 charging three Russian nationals for their role in a scheme to operate the "cryptocurrency mixing services" Blender.io and Sinbad.io, both of which have been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced.
The leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged the Biden administration late Jan. 10 to reimpose all sanctions lifted on Venezuela since November 2022.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted more than 20 entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, including people and entities tied to Switzerland, Venezuela, Malta, Panama, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras and elsewhere.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published a memorandum of understanding with the U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation that the two agencies are using to share information about national security threats and collaborate on sanctions enforcement and compliance. The memorandum, dated October 2024, builds on a partnership the two sides started in 2022, which has included swapping officials as part of an employee embed program, working together on sanctions guidance and better harmonizing their designations (see 2411190025 and 2311170038).