The U.N. Security Council and the U.K. recently amended 16 North Korea-related entries on their sanctions lists. The entries include bankers, nuclear researchers and procurers, and military officials.
China implemented export restrictions on gallium- and germanium-related items, which are used to make semiconductors and other key technology, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced, according to an unofficial translation. The restrictions will start Aug. 1 and are to protect China's national security, the ministry said. China is the top producer of the two metals, which are also used in solar panels, lasers and night-vision goggles. Gallium and germanium exporters will be required to apply for a license and report on their international buyers.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a reminder to industry to file annual reports on blocked property by Sept. 30. The notice applies to blocked property held as of June 30.
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House lawmakers submitted a host of proposed export control- and sanctions-related amendments as part of the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, including measures that could ease defense technology sharing restrictions, harmonize the Entity List with certain U.S. sanctions and investment restrictions and place new export control requirements on items destined to China and Iran. Other amendments could lead to new sanctions on Chinese technology companies and government officials, add the USDA to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., establish a new sanctions coordination office in the State Department and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control denied allegations that it incorrectly sanctioned Iranian car manufacturer Bahman Group, telling a federal court last month that “at all relevant times” the agency acted in accordance with U.S. sanctions authorities. The agency said it sanctioned Bahman Group twice, each time under “independent factual bases,” and said facts supported its “determination” that Bahman Group continued to provide “material assistance” to the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also objected to Bahman Group’s claim that the company “successfully” rebutted the “factual bases” on which OFAC added the company to its Specially Designated Nationals List.
Significant changes to Canadian sanctions laws took effect last month, including a new deemed ownership provision that could force companies to update their sanctions due diligence procedures, Bennett Jones said in a June client alert. Companies should “evaluate their current procedures in light of these new amendments, and think about how due diligence on prospective new transactions or business relationships may need to be updated,” Bennett Jones said of the changes, which took effect June 22.
A former board member of a Russian state-owned bank asked a federal court to order the U.S. to remove her from a U.S. sanctions list, saying there is “no factual basis” that supports her listing. In a complaint recently filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Elena Titova, a dual Russian and U.K. citizen, said she resigned from her position eight days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year but was still added to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List even though she hasn’t been designated by any “other nation in the world.”
China last week issued a new “foreign relations law” that could bolster the country’s ability to respond to foreign trade restrictions, including sanctions. The law, adopted by the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress and effective July 1, says that China can take “law enforcement and judicial measures” to protect its national interests and those of its companies against restrictions imposed by other countries, and “has the right to take corresponding countermeasures and restrictive measures,” according to an unofficial translation of the document. The law specifically authorizes China to use “legislation, law enforcement, and judicial means to fight against acts of containment, interference, sanctions, and sabotage.”
The U.S. is “overstretching the national security concept” and “abusing export control tools,” a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry told reporters June 30, according to a transcript in English of the regular press conference where the comment was made. The spokesperson, asked about recent steps taken by the Netherlands to restrict exports of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment (see 2306300028) and potential future controls imposed by the Biden administration (see 2306290048), said the U.S. is “using all sorts of pretexts to cajole or coerce other countries into joining its technological blockade against China.” The country will “closely monitor relevant developments and firmly defend our lawful rights and interests.”