The Bureau of Industry and Security should clarify a number of items related to its new upcoming export controls on certain electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) software (see 2208120038 and 2208250036), including its definition for “specially designed,” semiconductor companies told the agency in comments this month. BIS should also consider updating other areas of the control, some said, including making it eligible for License Exception TSR (Technology and software under restriction).
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added three questions to its Russia sanctions guidance page. The first asks whether insurers are allowed to insure Russian ships carrying food and fertilizer from Russia and Ukraine to a third country. OFSI said insurers can apply for a license under the food security purpose with OFSI, which allows anything to be done in connection with the distribution of food for the benefit of a country's civilian population. Applying for this license doesn't prevent applicants from also applying under a different purpose in the regulations.
A few EU member states expressed their concern that new proposed guidance from the European Commission could weaken sanctions on Russia and allow countries to ship certain key Russian commodities including coal, globally. Several countries, including Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, criticized the guidance, Bloomberg reported Sept. 21. In a meeting with EU ministers, the concerned parties asked the commission to halt the document's publication until their issues were addressed.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to control 4-piperidone as a list I chemical under the Controlled Substances Act. The chemical is used in the manufacture of fentanyl, DEA said. DEA is not proposing a threshold for domestic and international transactions for these chemicals, so “all transactions of chemical mixtures containing 4-piperidone will be regulated at any concentration and will be subject to control under the Controlled Substances Act,” the agency said. Comments are due Oct. 24.
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The Senate should move forward with bipartisan legislation that would give the administration stronger authorities to penalize and investigate sanctioned Russian oligarchs and tackle broader sanctions evasion issues (see 2207200020), senators said during a hearing this week. But Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Congress shouldn’t be too quick to expand some of the Biden administration’s proposals, which could expand DOJ authorities unrelated to Russia.
The House of Representatives on Sept. 20 passed two sanctions bills, including one that could lead to more designations of Russian officials and oligarchs. The bills were grouped as part of a broader legislative package that passed 361-69.
Two senators plan to introduce a bill that would impose mandatory sanctions against any foreign financial entity not complying with the G-7's and EU’s upcoming price cap on Russian oil. The bill, which is still being drafted, has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill but not from the Treasury Department, with one official suggesting the legislation is unnecessary.
The U.K., in a Sept. 16 notice, made a host of changes to its Russia sanctions regime listings. The Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation replaced Arkady Romanovich Rotenberg's entry with one that lists him as the previous chairman of the House of Prosvescheniye and previous owner of Stroygazmontazh. OFSI removed the entity Zao Interavtomatika (IA) from the consolidated list, and deleted two duplicates from the sanctions regime. The duplicate listings were for Leonid Eduardovich Slutsky and Vladimir Abdualievich Vasiliev. OFSI also amended 118 entries, still subjecting them to an asset freeze.
The U.K. amended one entry under its Libya sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a Sept. 16 notice. The entry for Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, funder and former director of the Internet Research Agency and supporter of the Wagner Group, was changed to clarify the reasons for his listing.