The European Union extended by a year its sanctions regimes relating to human rights violations in Nicaragua and the proliferation of chemical weapons, the European Council said Oct. 11. The Nicaragua sanctions apply to 14 individuals and were imposed in 2019 due to the “deterioriating political and social situation” in the Central American nation. The chemical weapons sanctions apply to 15 individuals and two entities and are meant to back the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
The European Union sanctioned an additional eight individuals for “actively supporting actions and implementing policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the European Council said Oct. 11. These eight individuals include judges and prosecutors responsible for enforcing Russian law in Crimea and Sevastopol, the council said. The total number of sanctioned parties is 185 individuals and 48 entities.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Oct. 4-8 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.S.’s new export restrictions over certain biological equipment software could have a major impact on life science companies, universities and research organizations, and could present significant foreign investment screening hurdles, law firms said. While the restrictions were issued multilaterally and will only seek to stop certain software exports that can be exploited for biological weapons purposes, firms warned that the new restrictions could still be difficult to manage.
President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against Syria, the White House said Oct. 7. The situation in Syria continues to undermine the U.S. campaign to defeat the Islamic State group, “endangers civilians,” threatens stability in the region and poses a threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy, the White House said. The emergency was extended for one year beyond Oct. 14.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 8 removed Iran-based Mammut Industrial Group, its subsidiary Mammut Diesel and their aliases from the Specially Designated Nationals List. The entities, which produced and supplied military-grade, dual-use goods for Iran’s missile programs, were sanctioned in September 2020.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should work to raise export enforcement awareness and prioritize deterrence through large penalties, said Matthew Axelrod, President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee BIS enforcement work. Speaking during his nomination hearing last week, Axelrod highlighted BIS’s yearslong lack of Senate-confirmed leadership in the Office of Export Enforcement and said his background as a federal prosecutor makes him the right fit for the role.
Christine Kang has joined Hughes Hubbard as a partner, bolstering the New York office's practice focused on investigations, anti-corruption, sanctions and international arbitration, the firm announced. Kang previously spent 10 years at Jun He Law Offices in Beijing, where she represented Chinese state-owned enterprises and multinational companies doing business in China. Kang also has regularly represented Chinese companies in multilateral development bank reviews of potential sanctionable practices, the firm said.
Ukraine imposed sanctions on 95 individuals and four entities relating to the Russian elections in occupied territories of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an Oct. 5 decree, according to an unofficial translation. The listings include candidates for the Russia State Duma party and members of the election commissions. Seven operatives of the Russian Federal Security Service allegedly responsible for poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny were also designated, according to the first annex to the decree: Alexey Alexandrov, Vladimir Panyaev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov, Vladimir Mikhailovich Bogdanov, Kirill Vasilyev, Stanislav Valentinovich Makshakov and Alexei Semenovich Sedov. The U.S. and the United Kingdom sanctioned the seven in August (see 2108200017).
Members of the European Parliament, along with Irish politicians, pushed for Portuguese bank Novo Banco to release a payment from the Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank (BANDES) to the Pan American Health Organization for medical supplies and vaccines for children in Venezuela, in a letter to the Novo Bank CEO. Novo declined to process the transfer because BANDES is subject to U.S. sanctions, even though it is not subject to EU sanctions, the Intercept reported. The MEPs blasted Novo for being “over-compliant” with U.S. sanctions, even though the U.S. sanctions themselves have exceptions for humanitarian aid. No “legal or extra-legal obstacle” stands in the way of releasing BANDES's transfer from a Brazilian bank account for the purchase of the needed humanitarian health goods, the letter said.