The U.N. on Sept. 18 officially ended its sanctions regime against Mali, removing the eight people designated under the asset-blocking measures after Russia was the lone member to veto an extension of the sanctions for one year during an Aug. 30 meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven people and four entities in China, Iran, Russia and Turkey for their involvement with Iran’s drone development and production. The agency also updated the existing entry for U.S.-sanctioned Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) to add a new alias, saying that the company since last year has used the name Shahin Co. in contracts with overseas suppliers to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security needs more resources to investigate export control violations, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said this week. She also said a potential government shutdown would be “crushing” for the agency’s enforcement efforts and work on semiconductor export regulations.
The World Trade Organization on Sept. 15 released a new publication covering export controls. The report looks at "how WTO members have used different international agreements" beyond the trade body as grounds to set export regulations to support initiatives in "environmental protection, hazardous waste management, weapons control and combating illegal drugs trade."
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions decision from the bloc involving the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol. In June, the European Council extended the sanctions until June 23, 2024. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision, the council said.
The EU General Court's Grand Chamber on Sept. 13 rejected the Venezuelan government's challenge of the EU's Venezuela sanctions regime. The court said the European Council "relied on credible and reliable information" to assess the situation in Venezuela, which included "brutal repression" by the government. The court also said Venezuelan reports showing its government prosecuted these human rights abuses weren't enough to reveal a "manifest error" in the council's decision. The sanctions regime itself didn't violate international law, the court added, nor was it an illegal countermeasure because the sanctions weren't meant to be a reaction to an "internationally wrongful act imputable" to the Venezuelan government.
The EU added another four people and six entities to its Iran sanctions regime for "serious human rights violations in Iran," the European Council announced. The sanctions package was issued to mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini -- who was arrested for not wearing a hijab -- in the custody of the country’s Morality Police last year. The sanctions were coordinated with the U.S. (see 2309150023).
The European Commission on Sept. 15 updated the EU's dual-use export control list to align it with the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, Missile Technology Control Regime and Nuclear Supplier Group, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. The changes update controls for manufacturing equipment, high-performance computers and lasers, propulsion motors for submersible vehicles, technology for aircraft gas turbine engine development and more, the EC said. The changes also update technical definitions, notes and descriptions and make "editorial" revisions, the commission said. If the EC and European Parliament don't object, the regulation will enter into force in two months on the day after it's published.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection involving import and end-use certificates, its delivery verification procedures and its firearms entry clearance requirements. The import and end-use certificates are obtained by the foreign importer and transmitted to the U.S. exporter, BIS said, and the delivery verification certificate, required by BIS as part of its export control program, must be completed by the ultimate consignee when the goods are delivered. BIS said the firearms entry clearance requirements are “necessary” due to the 2020 shift in export control jurisdiction of certain defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department (see 2001170030), adding that Commerce “must now take over this collection of information.” Comments are due Nov. 20.