A top Commerce Department official tempered fears that the U.S. wants to stifle industry competitiveness (see 2003100044 and 2002180060) as it considers further restricting exports to Huawei and China, saying that is not the administration's goal. “Why would you restrict a U.S. company if you're only going to be enabling their competitor?” said Rich Ashooh, Commerce’s assistant secretary for export administration. “That’s a very important principle to engage in.”
Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Chris Coons, D-Del., applauded the Treasury Department’s decision to sanction Zimbabwean officials for human rights violations (see 2003110025) but called for more Zimbabwe sanctions, according to a March 11 press release. The senators said they will continue to push the administration to “hold leaders accountable for corruption” and human rights violations, and added that “there remain several others who need to be held accountable for their actions and we urge the administration to update the list as needed.”
The Automated Export System will add 13 new Export Control Classification Numbers to its reference table to allow exporters to report electronic export information in the wake of the transfer of export controls over firearms from the State Department to the Commerce Department (see 2001170030 and 2003090029), the Census Bureau said in a notice emailed March 11. The notice contains instructions for determining which new ECCNs are eligible for certain license types. Census also clarified that by using any of the license exceptions or “No License Required,” exporters “are certifying that the terms, provisions, and conditions described in the [Export Administration Regulations] have been met.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a Venezuela-related designation, amended three Venezuela-related general licenses and amended two frequently asked questions, according to a March 12 notice. The designation targets Switzerland-based TNK Trading International S.A. for operating in Venezuela’s oil sector. The company is a subsidiary of Russian state-controlled Rosneft Oil Company, according to a press release.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four Mexican businesses because of their links to Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis Drug Trafficking Organization, Treasury said in a March 11 news release. The designated companies include the asset holding company International Investments Holding S.A. de C.V. and a gas station company GBJ de Colima, S.A. de C.V. The two companies have been involved in helping Los Cuinis and CJNG to evade U.S. sanctions.
Swedbank may have committed 586 violations of U.S. sanctions and self-disclosed the violations to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the bank said March 11. The bank said the violations involved about $4.8 million worth of transactions between 2014 and 2019 and include payments with its subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. More than 500 of the violations constituted “salary payments” and other payments associated with the operation of a vessel and operator located in Crimea that used Swedbank in the Baltics.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security canceled its annual export control conference set to be held in Los Angeles in April due to coronavirus concerns, BIS said March 12. BIS said it made the decision “out of an abundance of caution.” The Export Control Forum, which was scheduled for April 1-2, will instead be offered as a “remote access program in the near future” and will provide some of the information officials “intended to present” at the conference, the agency said. BIS has not yet determined the date of that program. BIS also said the event’s co-sponsor, the District Export Council of Southern California, will return registration fees.
The Census Bureau is reaching out to companies that conduct value-added for re-exports in an effort to learn more about the process, Kiesha Downs, chief of the Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch, said during a March 10 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Census has reached out to two companies so far, Downs said, but encourages other re-exporters to contact the agency.
Japan and South Korea held an export control policy dialogue March 10 (see 2002210021) to discuss controls on sensitive technologies and concerns surrounding a trade dispute stemming from last year (see 1907010020), Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said, according to an unofficial translation. Japan said it pushed for “improved” measures surrounding “trade control and technology transfer management in both countries.” The two sides will continue meeting to try to resolve their dispute, discuss “country categories, conventional weapon catch-all systems” and more, Japan said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Zimbabwean government officials for human rights violations, Treasury said in a March 11 news release. Anselem Sanyatwe, former commander of the Zimbabwean National Army’s Presidential Guard Brigade, and Owen Ncube, the country’s minister of national security, committed violations against people protesting the country’s “flawed elections” and supporters of a Zimbabwean opposition group. OFAC also removed sanctions against Ray Kaukonde, Shuvai Ben Mahofa, Sithokozile Mathuthu and Naison Ndlovu, who were previously designated under Zimbabwe sanctions.