Russia announced new sanctions against U.S. citizens, including two Treasury Department officials and two former Bureau of Industry and Security officials, according to an unofficial translation of a May 21 notice. Russia designated Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, who has overseen some of the agency’s sanctions work, and Andrea Gacki, the director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is alerting users of its website and sanctions list data files of upcoming technical changes. The agency is beginning its annual renewal of the public certificate for its website, including its sanctions list downloads, and said its existing certificate will be replaced May 26 beginning at 9 p.m. The process will take about three to six hours for the replacement to be widely distributed, OFAC said in a May 23 notice. Users may need to update their configuration to trust the renewed certificate in order to prevent a loss of functionality.
The departments of state, the treasury, commerce and labor issued an advisory concerning U.S. Businesses in Sudan, to highlight the growing risks to American interests conducting business in the country, especially with Sudanese state-owned enterprises. Recent actions undertaken by the Sudanese government and security forces could adversely impact U.S. businesses and their operations in the country and the region, according to the advisory.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on May 20 completed an interagency review of a final rule related to its new export controls over certain cybersecurity items (see 2110200036 and 2201110025). BIS said earlier this year it was planning to make minor revisions to the rule to address some public comments (see 2202100026). The agency sent the rule for interagency review March 8 (see 2203090013).
The Bureau of Industry and Security's upcoming shift in its administrative enforcement policies could signal a more aggressive posture toward cracking down on illegal exports and may change how companies voluntarily disclose violations, a former BIS agent said. But some lawyers say the policies could represent a minor shift, and it may be too early to tell how they will affect compliance decisions.
The U.K.'s new Strategic Export Licensing Criteria took effect May 19, the Department for International Trade's Export Control Joint Unit said. The updates include the intent to allow the U.K.'s military end-use controls to be applied to a wider array of scenarios and the addition of China to the list of those destinations subject to an arms embargo. Hong Kong and Macau are included in the arms embargo.
Technology executive Obaidullah Syed, of Northbrook, Illinois, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for illegally exporting computer equipment to a nuclear research agency in Pakistan, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced May 18. Syed pleaded guilty in 2021 to conspiring to ship the goods without a license and to submit false export information. Before sentencing, Syed forfeited $247,000 of cash derived from the illegal sales.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week suspended the export privileges of another Russian airline and identified a new plane likely violating U.S. export controls. The agency issued a 180-day temporary denial order for Rossiya Airlines, which blocks Rossiya’s ability to participate in transactions subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The U.K. also sanctioned the airline last week (see 2205190011).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is proposing new unilateral export controls on four dual-use biological toxins that can be weaponized to kill people or animals, “degrade equipment” or damage the environment, the agency said in a rule released May 20. Controls would apply to the marine toxins brevetoxin, gonyautoxin, nodularin and palytoxin, BIS said, all of which can be “exploited for biological weapons purposes.” The agency said it won’t categorize the toxins or their technologies as emerging or foundational technologies, and doesn't plan to continue to differentiate between the two categories going forward.
The EU announced that 10 European countries not in the EU have aligned themselves with the EU's recent decision to add eight individuals and four entities to its North Korea sanctions regime. The countries also imposing the restrictions are North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Moldova, the European Council said May 19.