The Bureau of Industry and Security recently made available its process by which companies may begin submitting notifications for certain exports of “gray-zone” semiconductors that fall just below the new chip control parameters announced last month (see 2310170055). As part of the updated restrictions, BIS is requiring a notification under new License Exception Notified Advanced Computing (NAC), which will authorize certain exports of certain chips to China, Macau and destinations subject to a U.S. arms embargo.
More than a month after a British appellate court suggested the U.K. government could treat every Russian public and private entity as a sanctioned party because they can potentially be controlled by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a U.K. sanctions agency said it doesn’t plan to enforce its sanctions in that manner. The court ruling had caused widespread concern among the U.K. legal and business community, but the U.K.’s latest guidance means that uncertainty “is effectively resolved,” said law firm Osborne Clarke.
The EU’s next sanctions package against Russia could lead to new designations of more than 120 more people and entities, new import and export bans, a proposal to strengthen the price cap on Russian oil and more, the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a notice last week. The package could also extend EU import bans for certain aluminum products, including wires, tubes, pipes and aluminum foil, the European Aluminum trade group said.
In its largest-ever civil sanctions penalty, the Treasury Department on Nov. 21 announced a $968 mllion settlement with Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, for allegedly violating multiple U.S. sanctions programs. Treasury said Binance senior management tried to “project an image of compliance” but in reality allowed people that were either subject to sanctions or located in sanctioned jurisdictions to use its platform, and management also took steps to “undermine” the company’s own compliance procedures. Binance didn’t voluntarily disclose the violations, Treasury said, calling the case “egregious.”
An academic and journalists from England and Foreign Policy magazine agreed that President Joe Biden got more out of the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping than Xi did.
President Joe Biden renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to Nicaragua, the White House said last week. The situation in Nicaragua, including the "systematic dismantling and undermining of democratic institutions" as well as "indiscriminate violence" and corruption, continues to threaten U.S. national security, Biden said. The emergency for Nicaragua was renewed for one year from Nov. 27.
The U.S. this week sanctioned seven people and one entity affiliated with Iranian-aligned militia groups. The designations, announced by the Treasury and State departments, target several people connected to Iraq-based Kata’ib Hizballah and newly sanctioned Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, two militia groups that receive funding and support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. Designated were Imad Naji al-Bahadli, Habib Hasan Mughamis Darraji, Ja’afar al-Husayni, Khalid Kadhim Jasim al-Skeni, Basim Mohammad Hasab al-Majidi, Mojtaba Jahandust and Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji.
The American and British agencies in charge of sanctions implementation have “worked more closely than ever” during the last year and are planning to share more data, issue additional guidance and better harmonize their sanctions measures, they said last week. They also announced a plan to embed an official within the other country’s agency to help train and learn about each side's respective sanctions procedures.
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is nixing plans to spin off its cloud computing division due to “uncertainties” caused by recently updated U.S. chip export controls on China. Alibaba was planning to publicly list its Cloud Intelligence Group, a cloud computing services business, but said last week it fears “these new restrictions may materially and adversely affect” the cloud computing division’s “ability to offer products and services and to perform under existing contracts.”
Officials from the U.S. and China will meet in January to hold “technical discussions” on ways to better protect trade secrets, the Commerce Department said in a readout of a meeting last week between Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. Commerce said the two countries will bring together “subject matter experts” to talk about “strengthening the protection of trade secrets and confidential business information during administrative licensing proceedings."