The U.S. this week sanctioned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, and updated the sanctions listing for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, an agency involved in wrongfully detaining U.S citizens. The Treasury Department said Ahmadinejad supervised the ministry during his time as president, and wrongfully detained former FBI special agent Robert Levinson and three U.S. hikers. The two designations came as Iran released five U.S. citizens who have been imprisoned in the country, some for years, as part of a deal with the U.S. to unfreeze nearly $6 billion in Iranian funds to be used for humanitarian relief (see 2308150072).
A new Defense Department policy memo and guidance on foreign influence within American research institutions could exacerbate already complex export control due diligence challenges at universities, said Jackson Wood, director for industry strategy at Descartes. It also could lead to larger compliance risks for universities pursuing DOD-funded research, said Kit Conklin of compliance risk advisory firm Kharon.
The European Council extended its restrictive measures imposed on the parties responsible for undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine for another six months, setting up the restrictions to expire now on March 15, 2024. The measures are made up of travel restrictions, asset freezes and a bar on making funds available for listed parties. Nearly 1,800 individuals and entities are sanctioned under the regime.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week updated one Syria- and one Iran-related entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The agency updated identifying information for Atif Najib, a former Syrian military official, and Hosein Salimi, commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The U.S. and its allies last week sanctioned various people and entities involved in the Iranian regime’s suppression of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s Morality Police last year.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a technical correction to the Export Administration Regulations and clarifying its rules that cover releases of certain software, the agency said in a final rule issued last week. The rule, effective Sept. 18, clarifies an “ambiguity” in the EAR and notes that releases of software include both source code and object code “for purposes of transfer of access information.” The change will “eliminate potential uncertainty that the § 734.15 definition of 'release' limits § 734.19 to only controlling transfers of access information that release source code, rather than both source code and object code,” BIS said.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls last week issued two new risk compliance matrices, one for businesses and one for universities, to help them comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The matrices, which have been under work at DDTC since at least November (see 2211100023), are meant to guide exporters, manufacturers, researchers, academics and others through an assessment of their ITAR export control risks. DDTC said that after using the documents to conduct an ITAR risk assessment, organizations and researchers should “use that data to create an effective and tailored ITAR compliance program and allocate resources as appropriate to prioritize and mitigate those risks.”
Republicans are asking the Biden administration to strengthen export controls against Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company after Huawei this month unveiled a new smartphone that may have been made through means that violated U.S. export restrictions (see 2309120005). They said both technology companies should be subject to “full blocking sanctions” and their executives should face criminal investigations, adding that the Commerce Department should revoke all of their existing license applications, add all their subsidiaries to the Entity List and take other measures to cut off a broad range of shipments to both firms.
Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves will travel with 15 American companies on a cybersecurity “trade mission” to Japan and South Korea Sept. 20-26, the agency announced this week. The mission will help deepen commercial ties between the countries in cybersecurity and “other critical emerging technologies by strengthening joint efforts to safeguard our critical infrastructure and tech ecosystems from those who seek to undermine our national and economic security,” Commerce said. Leaders from the three countries met in August and agreed to boost export control cooperation and work closely in other “protection measures” to safeguard cutting-edge technologies (see 2308180046).
The U.S. doesn't have to sacrifice innovation when imposing new regulations on artificial intelligence, including through potential export controls, said Jack Corrigan, a senior research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Corrigan said there is always “tension” between the government’s desire to issue restrictions and industry’s drive to develop new technologies, but “as it relates to AI, regulation doesn't necessarily need to get in the way of innovation.”