The U.S. needs to “act quickly” to build a multilateral consensus on China export controls or risk other countries simply filling the vacuum left by the U.S. in China’s semiconductor market, two export control and national security policy experts said in a Dec. 30 piece for Foreign Affairs. Although U.S. officials have said they are confident an agreement with allies will soon be completed, the authors said it remains unclear whether the deal will create a “genuine, multilaterally controlled chokepoint” for advanced chip technologies.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week fined a multinational Danish-based refrigeration manufacturer more than $4.3 million for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Syria and Sudan. Danfoss, which also sells air conditioners and other cooling and heating products, illegally directed customers in all three countries to make payments through a U.S. financial institution, OFAC said in an enforcement notice. The company also made illegal payments to entities in Iran and Syria.
The Biden administration launched a task force to investigate how U.S. and Western parts, including microelectronics, are being found in Iranian-made drones used by Russia in violation of export controls, CNN reported Dec. 21. The task force includes the Defense, State, Justice, Commerce and Treasury departments, the report said, with one official calling it an “all hands on deck” initiative. Efforts around the task force have recently “intensified” as the U.S. has received intelligence that the Kremlin is looking to open a drone production factory as part of a deal with Iran, the report said. Iran already has begun transferring blueprints for the drones to Russia to aid with the production, the report said. The White House didn’t comment.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in a Dec. 22 opinion denied three Maryland men's post-trial motions seeking dismissal of their convictions, among other things, pertaining to their efforts to illegally export arms and ammunition to Nigeria. The court said Wilson Tita of Owings Mills, Eric Nji of Fort Washington and Wilson Fonguh of Bowie failed to prove that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen rendered unconstitutional the defendants' conviction on a charge of transporting a firearm with an obliterated serial number (U.S. v. Wilson Nuyila Tita).
The Congressional Research Service this month updated a report that provides an overview of U.S. sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The report details the various transactions and services that are subject to restrictions, as well as certain U.S. steps to sanction individual people and entities supporting Russia.
The U.K. on Dec. 28 amended one entry and corrected another under its Russia sanctions regime. The entry for Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar, an Iran-based manufacturer that produces unmanned aerial vehicles that are being shipped to Russia for the war in Ukraine, was amended to correct the spelling of its address. The entry for Said Mikhailovich Gutseriev was corrected to add Russian as his second nationality; he is also a British national.
Crowell attorneys in Brussels note that the new EU regulation that prohibits both export and import of certain commodities if they come from land that was recently deforested (see 2212070039) will affect more than high-risk countries such as Indonesia, Brazil or Ivory Coast.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is seeking public comments on an information collection involving remittance forwarding services related to Cuba. OFAC imposes recordkeeping requirements, restrictions and other conditions on those services under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations. Comments are due Jan. 30.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted five Iraqi-related entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The entries were added to the list in 2004 for operating as part of a network of front companies procuring weapons for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and doing business to support the fallen Saddam Hussein regime. OFAC didn’t release more information.
The European Council removed the listing for the Libyan Arab African Investment Co. from its Libya sanctions regime after a ruling from the EU General Court annulling the listing. LAAICO was initially listed in 2016 and was upheld on the sanctions list in July. The General Court found the sanctions listing was not properly made.