The U.S. has initiated the formation of a dispute settlement panel over Mexico's decree to not allow biotech corn for tortillas and directive to the administration to gradually substitute genetically modified corn in processed foods and in animal feed.
China is planning “countermeasures” to respond to the Biden administration's recent executive order on outbound investment, a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson told reporters this week. The spokesperson said China has “serious concerns” about the restrictions -- which will eventually lead to prohibitions and notification requirements for U.S. investment in three advanced technology sectors in China -- and said the U.S. is “harming others and harming itself.”
The U.N. Security Council this week amended nine sanctions list entries related to North Korea. The changes updated identifying information for eight people and one entity.
The U.S. this week sanctioned two Syria-based armed militias and three of their leaders for their involvement in “gross” human rights violations against people living in northern Syria’s Afrin region. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also sanctioned an auto sales company owned by one of the leaders.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four people involved in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. OFAC said Alexey Alexandrovich Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov and Vladimir Alexandrovich Panyaev are Russian Federal Security Service operatives who were reported to be involved in the attack on Navalny. All four were previously sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act of 2012 for their ties to “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking to expose illegal activity carried out” by Russia, the agency said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 17 released a correction to its final rule last week that expanded the scope of its nuclear-related export controls on China and Macau (see 2308110019). BIS said there was an "inadvertent error in one of the regulatory instructions for that rule," and the notice issued by BIS this week "corrects that inadvertent error."
New Indian import restrictions on computers and other electronics could “significantly disrupt” trade, including U.S. exports, eight industry groups wrote in a letter this week to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The groups -- representing the American semiconductor, electronics, manufacturing and retail industries -- asked the Biden administration to raise the issue with the Indian government “as a matter of urgency.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security made several changes to the Export Administration Regulations this week to align its controls with decisions made at the multilateral Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2019 and 2022. The amendments, outlined in a final rule effective Aug. 18, revised five existing Export Control Classification Numbers under the Commerce Control List to alter or clarify the scope of certain controls and make technical fixes to other ECCNs.
Charles McGonigal, a former senior FBI official, pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against Russia, DOJ announced Aug. 15. McGonigal was charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in January after DOJ said he “provided services” to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in exchange for payments, including by agreeing to investigate a Russian oligarch who was a rival of Deripaska (see 2301230030 and 2308080030).
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is drafting a proposed rule that could delay the deadline for certain companies to comply with its new beneficial ownership information reporting requirements. The rule, sent for interagency review Aug. 14, could extend the reporting deadline only for companies “created or registered” in 2024. The new rules, mandated by the Corporate Transparency Act, will take effect Jan. 1 and require certain companies to file reports with FinCEN about their beneficial owners. Those reports will “provide essential information” to law enforcement and national security agencies as they look to prevent sanctioned parties and others from illegally hiding money or property in the U.S., FinCEN said.