Some companies are concerned about the possibility of the Commerce Department issuing major export control actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which they say will compound economic hardships caused by the mitigation response to the highly contagious disease. In interviews, industry officials said they are unsure about their ability to manage sweeping regulatory changes even as they acknowledge that a moratorium on export control actions is unlikely.
As Thompson Hine lawyers on a webinar discussed exemptions to the Federal Emergency Management Agency restrictions on exports of personal protective equipment, they noted that goods held in bonded warehouses or in foreign-trade zones aren't subject to the controls. As a result, they expect the two to become more widely used over the next year.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is still planning to hold its annual conference in Washington, D.C., this summer, and officially opened registration for the event on April 30. BIS said it is “closely monitoring” COVID-19 updates and will notify industry of any changes to the June 29-July 1 conference. The conference's agenda includes sessions on license exceptions, semiconductors, end-use checks, updates on export controls, export enforcement and more.
Sudan is being severely hampered by unilateral sanctions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations said April 28. The country is facing “acute resource constraints” because of its position on the U.S.’s list of state-sponsored terrorism, which is leading to a humanitarian crisis, said Michelle Bachelet, UN commissioner for human rights. “The only way Sudan will ever be able to break out of this cycle of poverty and desperation is to be freed from the impediments of sanctions,” Bachelet said.
American Express violated U.S. sanctions when it processed about $35,000 worth of transactions for a designated person in 2015, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said April 30. OFAC issued a “finding of violation” for American Express Travel Related Services Company but did not impose a fine.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls scheduled an April 30 update of its Defense Export Control and Compliance System to allow license drafters to select the empowered official to sign and submit a license, the DDTC said April 29. The update will return all licenses in “awaiting signature” status to “draft” status. License drafters should open the license and select empowered official “to return the license to the 'Awaiting Signature' status,” the DDTC said. Due to the update, the agency said it expected DECCS to be unavailable to industry from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT April 30.
Maltese authorities charged five men for violating European Union sanctions on Libya, according to an April 25 notice from the Malta Police Force. The arrests, which resulted from “weeks of investigations,” came after the men allegedly used a Malta-registered company to illegally export two ships to Libya. The men pleaded not guilty.
The United Kingdom amended a sanctions entry for Martin Koumtamadji, according to an April 29 notice from the U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. Koumtamadji, the leader of an anti-government militia in the Central African Republic (see 2004220011), is still subject to an asset freeze.
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing “significant disruption” for the Wassenaar Arrangement, leading to the cancelation of at least one meeting and creating uncertainty about whether the group can remotely vote on new export controls, two Commerce Department officials said. Wassenaar was forced to cancel its April Experts Group meeting -- which normally addresses issues related to its lists of controlled items -- and is unsure if global travel restrictions will force cancellations of future meetings in June and its annual plenary session in December.
The Commerce Department has drafted a regulation that will address the ability of U.S. companies to participate in 5G standards setting bodies involving Huawei, a top Commerce official said. The rule is still being discussed within Commerce and has not yet been cleared for interagency review, Matt Borman, Commerce’s deputy assistant secretary for export administration, said during an April 29 Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee meeting.