The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 17 people and entities involved in selling equipment used to make illegal drugs, including seven entities and six people based in China and one entity and three people in Mexico. The designations target companies that supply pill press machines, die molds and other equipment used to “impress counterfeit trade markings of legitimate pharmaceuticals onto illicitly produced pills,” including China-based Youli Technology Development Co. and Yason General Machinery along with Mexico-based Mexpacking Solutions. The agency also sanctioned the owners and employees of those companies and others.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently published its response to an advisory opinion request on whether certain information shared with the International Civil Aviation Organization during aircraft standards development activities would be subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The requester, whose name was redacted, believes that the information contains “non-proprietary system descriptions” and therefore isn’t subject to the EAR.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has had “more than enough time” to issue a final version of its October China chip export controls, which need to be “strengthened” and “vigorously enforced” to maintain American semiconductor leadership, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a May 30 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Rubio asked the agency when it plans to issue the final rule, what changes will be made, whether BIS had “delayed” finalizing the rule and more.
The U.K. last week updated guidance on how people and entities can request reviews of their counter-terrorism sanctions designations, including how they can ask to be removed from the sanctions list. The guidance covers who can apply for revocation, how to submit a sanctions review request form, the evidence needed to submit, how long it may take and further requests once a decision has been rendered. OFSI said decisions on applications will be made "as soon as reasonably practicable."
Japan last week announced new sanctions and export controls against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, designating more than 80 people and entities and introducing new restrictions on certain exports and services to Russia. The financial sanctions apply to parties “directly involved” in Russia’s actions in Crimea, Sevastopol and other regions of Ukraine, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, and the export controls apply to 80 sanctioned entities and items that could “contribute to the enhancement of Russian industrial capacities.” Japan also imposed a prohibition on providing architectural and engineering services to Russia.
The State Department last week called on Russia to stop preventing agricultural exports and other food products from leaving Ukraine, saying it would help lower global food prices and get “urgently needed grains to people around the world.” Moscow should “end its illegal war in Ukraine to allow a return to normal agricultural production and trade and an immediate and significant improvement in global food security,” the agency said. It also stressed that U.S. sanctions aren’t blocking agricultural trade, and the U.S. offers authorizations to allow “transactions involving agricultural products and fertilizer.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published four previously issued general licenses under its Cyber-Related, Non-Proliferation, and Hostages and Wrongfully Detained U.S. Nationals sanctions programs. The full text of each license is available in the notice.
The Biden administration should continue to designate members of Russia’s Wagner Group, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said last week, adding that Russia's President Vladimir Putin is using the military company as a “weapon of malign influence.” McCaul on May 25 called for “the expanded use of sanctions to target Wagner and its enablers throughout Africa, in Ukraine and around the globe.” The Treasury Department last week sanctioned a senior Mali-based Wagner Group official (see 2305250045).
Several companies this month disclosed potential export control or sanctions violations or updated the status of their current disclosures, including an information technology services company, an investment firm and a digital asset services company. The potential violations involve a business trying to exit the Russian market, a company potentially illegally sending export-controlled data and a firm waiting years for a response to two sanctions disclosures.
The U.S. should convince the U.N. to harmonize its sanctions lists with U.S. trade blacklists, a House Financial Services subcommittee heard during a hearing last week. Aligning the lists could require the World Bank and other international organizations to adhere to U.S. sanctions, one witness said, and help the U.S. extend the reach of its restrictions against China.