The State Department should sanction entities in Tunisia undermining the country’s stability, said Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The lawmakers said President Kais Saied’s recent constitutional referendum was a “vast expansion of presidential powers and drastically diminished the Tunisian people’s ability to elect their own government.” The U.S. should work with G7 partners to “address the erosion of Tunisian democracy and mitigate the effects of the country’s economic crisis,” the Oct. 16 letter said.
A Republican-backed bill introduced in the House could lead to the transfer of export control authorities from the Commerce Department to the Defense Department. The bill, introduced Oct. 28 by Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Greg Steube, R-Fla., includes language critical of the Bureau of Industry and Security, saying the agency has made “little progress” in controlling emerging and foundational technologies under the Export Control Reform Act and that BIS’s export control authorities should be revoked.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned eight individuals connected with weapons trafficking in Somalia, according to a Nov. 1 notice. The action targets Islamic State in Somalia and its network of weapons traffickers, their associates, and an affiliated business that have "facilitated weapons transfers to multiple terrorist groups" and follows up on the recent designations of al-Shabaab financial facilitators and weapons smugglers (see 2210170069), OFAC said. These networks operate primarily between Yemen and Somalia and have strong ties to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and al-Shabaab. OFAC also designated an ISIS supporter in Brazil, who the office says has attempted to serve as a liaison between terrorist groups.
Canada on Oct. 31 imposed new sanctions against Iran for human rights violations by its government, including its recent crackdown on women and peaceful protesters. The sanctions target Hossein Rahimi, a police commander; Ahmad Fazelian, deputy attorney general; Asadollah Jafari, head of the Judicial Administration in the North Khorasan Province; and Seyed Morteza Mousavi, deputy head of the Judicial Administration in the Mazandaran Province. Also sanctioned were two entities: Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and Al-Mustafa International University, which “spreads the regime’s ideology abroad through its global branches.”
Japan has begun “internal discussions” on whether it should join the U.S. in imposing export controls on advanced semiconductors and other technologies destined to China, Nikkei reported Nov. 1. Officials in Tokyo are “weighing which restrictions can be adopted in Japan, and will watch how other U.S. allies such as the European Union and South Korea respond,” the report said. Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez recently said he’s confident U.S. allies will eventually impose similar controls (see 2210270047), which set sweeping new license restrictions to limit China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors (see 2210070049).
Nearly a month after the U.S. announced new export controls on advanced computing and semiconductor equipment destined to China, lawyers and companies are still grappling with what they say is a complex set of regulations and are awaiting clearer government guidance on how and whether their activities are covered. The dense regulations, along with lengthy response times from the Bureau of Industry and Security, have caused firms to delay decisions on shipments until they can better understand their risks and BIS’s due diligence requirements, trade attorneys and industry officials said in recent interviews.
The U.K. released a General License under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes pertaining to the provision of legal services, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The license allows for the payment of legal fees by designated individuals and entities to law firms and counsel. The license distinguishes between legal fees issued pre- and post-designation. OFSI imposed a cap of around $574,000, VAT included, on the amount that can be claimed for legal work carried out pre-designation, and an identical cap on overall fees for legal work started post-designation with reporting obligations proving all fees are reasonable.
The U.K. on Oct. 29 amended its Russian sanctions regime to prohibit the import and acquisition of liquefied natural gas and gold jewelry, the Department for International Trade said. The amendment also extends the existing restrictions on the import of gold to include gold processed in a third country and expands the list of revenue-generating goods to goods falling under commodity codes 2208 and 2303. The move further bans the provision of technical assistance, financial services and funds and brokering services relating to the goods. The measures took effect Oct. 29, except for the provision relating to liquefied natural gas, which takes effect Jan. 1.
European officials are concerned that a sudden increase in exports of washing machines, refrigerators and other items to Russian neighbors are being used to help the country acquire semiconductors and evade export controls, Bloomger reported Oct. 29. Armenia imported more washing machines from the EU during the first eight months of this year than the last two years combined, the report said, and Kazakhstan imported more than triple the amount of refrigerators through August compared with the same period last year. European officials are concerned some of the items' components may be used by Russia's military, the report said, and have publicly said they have seen parts from fridges in Russian military equipment used in Ukraine.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has updated its Frequently Asked Questions to give additional guidance regarding the transport of Russian crude oil prior to the implementation of the oil price cap. FAQ 1094, issued Oct. 31, explains that Russian-origin crude oil loaded onto a vessel for maritime transport prior to Dec. 5 will not be subject to the price cap (also known as the “maritime services policy”) provided that the oil is unloaded at the port of destination prior to 12:01 a.m. EST, Jan. 19, 2023.