The U.K. High Court of Justice Administrative Court recently dismissed an application from Russian businessman Sergei Naumenko and companies Dalston Projects and Prism Maritime, legal owners of the Phi superyacht, seeking to regain control of the vessel. The British secretary of state for transport in March 2022 seized the yacht under its Russia sanctions regime.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week renewed its temporary denial order for a Venezuela-based cargo airline after saying it continues to try to violate U.S. export restrictions and the terms of the TDO. BIS said Empresa de Transporte Aereocargo del Sur, also known as Aerocargo del Sur Transportation or Emtrasur, has demonstrated "continued disregard" for U.S. export controls.
The Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act, a bill that requires the State Department to report on ties between criminal gangs and political and economic elites in Haiti (see 2302140049 and 2303280040), and asks the administration to impose sanctions based on what it finds, passed the House by voice vote July 25.
A bill that sets a 10-year statute of limitation for violating sanctions under either the Trading with the Enemy Act or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act passed the House July 25.
House Republicans introduced a bill last week that would prevent the administration from renewing a general license authorizing certain transactions related to earthquake relief efforts in Syria. The bill would also require the Treasury, State and Commerce departments to notify Congress of any change to the Syria Sanctions Regulations “no more than 15 days prior to the change taking effect.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, introduced a bill this week that could lead to new export controls on certain U.S. “genetic technology” destined to China. The Stopping Genetic Monitoring by China Act would add various types of “genetic sampling and testing kits, analytical technology, and software” to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Commerce Control List, including:
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week signed an “agreement” with the Office of Foreign Assets Control to improve coordination among the two agencies’ export control and sanctions enforcement teams, said Matthew Axelrod, the top BIS export enforcement official. The agreement will help in “formalizing our close coordination and partnership,” Axelrod said during a July 26 Society for International Affairs conference, according to a copy of his speech emailed by BIS.
The U.S. this week issued new guidance on its various voluntary self-disclosure policies for sanctions and export control violations, urging companies to disclose offenses and stressing the importance of “robust” compliance programs. The six-page “compliance note,” the second jointly issued by the Commerce, Treasury and Justice departments (see 2303020054), outlines DOJ’s recently updated disclosure policies for criminal export and sanctions violations, the raft of changes made to the Bureau of Industry and Security's administrative enforcement policies over the past year, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s procedures for assessing voluntary disclosures. The notice also describes the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s whistleblower program.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this week declined to say when she expects the Bureau of Industry and Security to finalize its Oct. 7 China chip controls (see 2210070049, saying it’s more important to her that the agency takes its time and gets the updated restrictions “right.” She also said she doesn’t see Chips Act funding and restrictions on American chips sales to China as contradictory and denied reports that the administration has delayed new export controls against China in an effort to limit damage to its relationship with Beijing.
The U.K. amended two entries under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list in a July 25 notice. The listings of Faysal Ahmad Bin Ali Al-Zahrani, ISIL's lead oil and gas division official, and Yazid Sufaat, founding member of Jemaah Islamiyah, were updated. Al-Zahrani's listing was changed to reflect that he is reportedly deceased; Sufaat's was changed to say he completed detention Nov. 20, 2019, and then served a two-year restricted residence order in Malaysia until Nov. 21, 2021. The measures follow similar actions by the U.N. Security Council this week (see 2307240016).