The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls added a new “Renewal Fee Details” function to its online application system, the agency recently announced. The new function will allow certain users of the Defense Export Control and Compliance System to view their registration expiration date, license period start and end dates, their number of licenses and more information “consolidated into the new Renewal Fee Details window.” Users will also be able to download a .csv file “of all licenses considered when calculating the renewal fee charged by DDTC,” along with other new functionalities. Questions should be directed to PM_DDTCProjectteam@state.gov.
Igor Panchernikov, a California resident and former member of the U.S. military, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for conspiring to illegally export defense items to Russia in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, DOJ announced last week. Panchernikov was charged in 2021 as part of a five-person scheme to ship thermal imaging rifle scopes and night-vision goggles to Russia (see 2106220012).
The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week advanced two sanctions-related bills, one involving China and another dealing with Iran.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two Russian Federal Security Service officers recently indicted by DOJ for assisting the Kremlin’s foreign election interference efforts. The designations target Yegor Sergeyevich Popov and Aleksei Borisovich Sukhodolov.
The EU is preparing to revamp its dual-use export control regime to better target emerging technologies, said Jean-Charles van Eeckhaute, a senior European Commission official. Van Eeckhaute said the commission already has begun work on a new list of dual-use technologies -- which the bloc hopes to finalize by September -- that may warrant new restrictions.
The U.K. on June 23 amended three entries under its Russia sanctions regime. The changes affected the listings for Demetris Ioannides, Meritservus managing director; Dmitry Alexandrovich Pumpyansky, former board chairman for Tube Metallurgical Company; and Pumpyansky's wife, Galina Evgenyevna Pumpyanskaya.
Republican senators reintroduced a bill last week that would allow Congress to approve or disapprove of Biden administration efforts to lift sanctions against Iran. The Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act, first introduced in 2021 (see 2102260025), would “provide a check on the Biden administration if they try to circumvent Congress during negotiations,” said Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman, both of Arkansas. “Congress should review any sanctions relief Iran receives.”
A Republican-backed bill in the Senate could require the Bureau of Industry and Security to adopt a license review policy of presumption of denial for controlled exports to “any end user” in China or Russia and to notify Congress before approving a license to either country. After notifying Congress, lawmakers would be able to block BIS from granting the license, which will help “create additional safeguards to ensure sensitive technology does not flow to our adversaries,” the bill’s introducers’ press release said.
The U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council will host a new “outreach event” next month to speak with industry about dual-use export control issues. The July 19 virtual event will help the TTC’s Export Control Working Group address the “streamlining of possible duplicative actions” faced by exporters who are required to obtain licenses in both the U.S. and EU. Other topics to be discussed include “the similarities and differences between EU General Export Authorisations and US License Exceptions” and information sharing between the exporter and the consignee. The outreach event will “feed into EU-US work” to help reduce the “administrative burden for both economic operators and government authorities.” Participants must register before 6 p.m. June 30.
The EU levied its 11th sanctions package against Russia June 23, imposing a host of new export restrictions, individual designations and "new tools to counter circumvention and information warfare," the European Council announced. The new designations target 71 people and 33 entities involved in military activities, political decision-making, the spread of disinformation, the forced adoption of Ukrainian children to Russia and Russian information technology companies offering technology to Russian intelligence agencies.