The House passed a bill last week that would authorize the State Department to provide rewards for information about sanctions evasion. The Bassam Barabandi Rewards for Justice Act, passed July 20, would allow the U.S. to pay for information about illegal exports, services or assistance that violates U.S. or United Nations sanctions or trade restrictions. The Senate version of the bill was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations July 21. The bill is named after Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who defected from the government.
The Congressional Research Service on July 22 released an updated version of its report on U.S. policy toward Cuba, detailing sanctions and restrictions imposed on the country’s military, exports to the island, remittances and more. President Joe Biden recently authorized more sanctions against Cuba and hasn’t committed to repealing trade sanctions or other restrictions on sending remittances to the island (see 2107160013).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week opened registration for its annual conference (see 2104290004), which will be held virtually Sept. 2, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT. The conference will include sessions on BIS’s military end-user and end-use rules, export enforcement, licensing information, export compliance and regulatory updates from the Census Bureau and the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Recorded sessions will be made available one month after the conference.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a senior Cuban official and a government agency for their involvement in the repression of pro-democratic protests on the island this month, OFAC said July 22. The designations target Alvaro Lopez Miera, the Cuban defense minister, and the Brigada Especial Nacional del Ministerio del Interior (also known as the Boinas Negras or the Black Berets). “This is just the beginning,” President Joe Biden said in a July 22 statement. “The United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people.”
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added five names to its global anti-corruption sanctions listings, a financial sanctions notice said July 22. Nawfal Hammadi Al-Sultan of Iraq, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue of Equatorial Guinea, Alvaro Enrique Pulido Vargas of Colombia, Alex Nain Saab Moran of Colombia and Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei of Zimbabwe will now be subject to an asset freeze.
The U.S. said it will not block the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, a commitment meant to strengthen ties with Germany but one that frustrated U.S. lawmakers who for months have called for strict sanctions against the pipeline. While the State Department said the U.S. and Germany remain “united in their determination” to sanction Russia for “malign activities,” the Russia-backed pipeline will proceed, they said.
CBP has begun drafting an announcement that will require shippers to use electronic export manifests (see 2003110038) for all ocean, air and rail shipments, said Jim Swanson, CBP’s director of the Cargo and Security Controls Division. While the agency doesn’t yet have a firm effective date, he said CBP is finally working on regulatory changes that would mandate those electronic filings and expects to issue Federal Register notices in “the next several months.”
The United Kingdom should hasten the imposition of sanctions on Myanmar businesses and other entities in key industries on which the ruling junta is dependent, a July 16 report from the U.K. House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee said. The report also called on the government to encourage other nations that do not have Myanmar sanctions in place to implement them and ensure that third-country financial institutions support U.K.-implemented sanctions placed on junta-backed businesses and individuals.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added defense company JSC Agat-Electromechanical Plant to its Belarus sanctions regime, a July 21 notice said. The company, which is listed as one of a number of Belarusian defense companies on the State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus website, will be subject to an asset freeze.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to list amineptine, a synthetic tricyclic antidepressant with central nervous system (CNS) stimulating properties that, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, has no approved medical use and no known therapeutic application in the U.S., under schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released July 21. "If finalized, this action would impose the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess), or propose to handle, amineptine." Comments are due Sept. 20.