The U.S. and 44 other countries submitted questions this week to Russia regarding the poisoning of Russian political opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which has spurred multiple rounds of U.S. sanctions and trade restrictions targeting Russia. The queries, submitted at the Oct. 5 meeting for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Executive Council, regard whether Russia has fallen out of compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention’s requirements. The U.S. has designated various Russian entities and people related to the poisoning and imposed more export restrictions on national security-controlled goods and technology (see 2103170022 and 2108230065). Russia has 10 days to respond.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is considering requesting public comments on new export controls for certain brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. The agency sent the pre-rule for interagency review Oct. 5 and said it hopes to determine whether BCI represents an emerging technology important to U.S. national security and whether “effective controls can be implemented.”
A former professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has been charged in Norway with violating sanctions on Iran, export control regulations and the country's data breach laws, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp. reported, according to an unofficial translation. The professor allegedly invited four guest researchers from Iran, giving them laboratory access at the university in 2018-19. The four also were given access to defense information without obtaining the necessary license from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the report said. Norway alleges the visitors could have gained knowledge beneficial to Iran's nuclear program.
The Senate Banking Committee this week approved the nominations for two senior Bureau of Industry and Security officials but reached a tie vote on two other nominees slated to oversee the Treasury Department’s sanctions work.
A new bill with bipartisan support would authorize more U.S. sanctions against those responsible for the military coup and subsequent human rights abuses in Myanmar. The Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability Act of 2021 also would require the State Department to designate an official to coordinate U.S. sanctions against Myanmar and push for more multilateral sanctions among allies.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The export control jurisdiction for exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end-uses will transfer from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Bureau of Industry and Security, BIS said in notice. While those exports will be controlled under the Export Administration Regulations, BIS stressed that deuterium exports intended for nuclear end-uses will still be subject to the NRC’s export licensing jurisdiction. BIS has been considering the change, which will take effect Dec. 6, since at least June (see 2109240011).
The State Department should increase sanctions on President Daniel Ortega’s regime in Nicaragua and better coordinate with allies to pressure the country's government, a bipartisan group of 15 senators said in an Oct. 1 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The agency should specifically look to expand sanctions against senior government and military officials, including those operating the Instituto de Prevision Social Militar, the military’s investment fund, the senators said. If the Ortega regime doesn’t allow democratic change and stop its human rights violations, the U.S. should also push for a review of Nicaragua’s membership in the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. “The Administration has powerful tools at its disposal,” said the senators, including Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “As you evaluate options, we encourage you to expand sanctions” on the regime. A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. "will continue to use the diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal to support Nicaraguans’ calls for greater freedom, accountability, and free and fair elections."
Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a bill that would require the president to impose sanctions on members of the Taliban who support any terrorist group in Afghanistan, who engage in international narcotics trafficking, or who engage in "serious human rights abuses." The three requirements would begin 90 days after passage, the Sept, 27 bill says. Twenty-six Republican senators co-sponsored the bill.
Thailand’s commerce ministry recently announced plans to impose catch-all controls on exports, reexports and transfers of dual-use goods, technology and software that may threaten the country’s security, KPMG said Oct. 1. The measure, which will take effect at year's end, will apply export controls to any dual-use goods that may be used to develop, manufacture or are otherwise associated with weapons of mass destruction, KPMG said. The country’s Department of Foreign Trade will investigate exports that meet that threshold and can “block any shipment of dual-use items that will be delivered to a high-risk end-user if the shipment of dual-use items is classified as risky and requiring control.” The agency also will be able to “block all activities in relation to such dual-use items.”