The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to further deny the Cuban government’s access to remittance-related funds, OFAC said in a final rule released Oct. 23. The rule amends the scope of certain general licenses to remove “remittance-related general authorizations” involving entities on the Cuba Restricted List, OFAC said. The change will limit those agencies’ access to remittances, “including in their role as intermediaries or in their receipt of fees or commissions from processing remittance transactions.” The rule will take effect Nov. 27. The changes follow a set of new Cuba sanctions and restrictions announced by OFAC in September that created the Cuba Restricted List, placing restrictions on lodging, research and other activities (see 2009230029).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a range of sanctions Oct. 22, designating Hizballah officials, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq and various Iranian entities for interfering in U.S. elections.
China plans to release an initial list of items subject to export restrictions under its new export control law (see 2010190033), its Ministry of Commerce said Oct. 22. China already has controls in place for certain dual-use, nuclear and military-related items but plans to issue more restrictions to “better fulfill relevant international obligations, adapt to the needs of export control work under the new situation, and safeguard [China’s] national security,” a ministry spokesperson said, according to an unofficial translation. “We will further improve and release the control list in due course.” The spokesperson said China learned from and modeled its regime after “international practices” of other control lists, and received more than 250 comments from companies, law firms and government agencies.
The State Department approved about $1.8 billion in military sales to Taiwan, drawing criticism from China, which threatened retaliation if the sales are not revoked. The sales, announced Oct. 21, include more than $1 billion worth of Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response missiles, an estimated $367 million for MS-110 Recce Pods and about $436 million for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems M142 Launchers. The contractors are Boeing, Collins Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, respectively.
The United Kingdom Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation revised entries for two people and three entities under its sanctions regime for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, OFSI said in an Oct. 20 notice. The notices revised identifying information for two former military officials in the region, a terrorist organization and two gold export companies.
The U.S. should sign a trade deal with Taiwan and increase cooperation on export controls, similar to U.S. partnerships with Japan and Australia, Asia experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said. Increased collaboration with Taiwan has strong support from Congress and the Taiwanese government, the experts said, and would make sense as the U.S. welcomes manufacturing and investment from Taiwan.
In a think tank effort that seems to assume a change in Washington, though never explicitly says it, the Peterson Institute for International Economics says there should be a return to more conservative use of export controls and entity lists to manage the threat of Chinese access to advanced technology for nefarious purposes. Martin Chorzempa, a PIIE research fellow, discussed a memo he authored to a future Commerce undersecretary for export controls in the next administration, during an Oct. 22 webinar at PIIE.
The State Department is close to publishing the first in a series of rules to reorganize the International Traffic in Arms Regulations after months of legal reviews (see 1907120011) and a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2005080038), an agency official said. The first rule, part of a larger reorganization effort led by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, will tackle the organization of definitions in the ITAR. Other rules will consolidate exemptions and streamline licensing requirements and policies.
The Nigerian Shippers Council ordered terminal operators to refund unauthorized transfer and storage charges on shippers and freight forwarders or “face serious sanctions,” the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Oct. 13. Shippers and freight forwarders complained to the NSC, the country’s port regulator, that they have been “arbitrarily charged levies” on container demurrage, storage and transfer by shipping firms and terminal operators for the “transport of goods to off‑dock terminals without their knowledge,” the report said. The NSC ordered port operators and other shipping agencies to “immediately” refund the charges collected since June 1 or face a “total shutdown.” Some terminals have not complied with the order, including Nigeria’s Denca Bonded Terminal, which allegedly owes more than $100,000 (in U.S. dollars) in refunds. The NSC plans to place staff at bonded terminals “to gather weekly reports on charges.” NSC issued guidance, according to the HKTDC report, indicating that “storage and demurrage fees on goods that need to be moved from seaport terminals to off‑dock terminals without the consignees’ consent should only be imposed after the goods’ arrival at the designated off‑dock terminals.”
The European Union formally announced a joint proposal for an EU-wide human rights sanctions regime, which would give member states “greater flexibility” to target human rights abuses, the European Commission said Oct. 19. The regime is expected to include asset freezes and travel bans, and give the commission oversight of the implementation of certain bans. Although the regime would include new sanctions, it would “not replace existing geographic sanctions regimes,” the commission said, some of which already target human rights violations in countries like Syria, Venezuela and Belarus.