The Bureau of Industry and Security on May 20 completed an interagency review of a final rule related to its new export controls over certain cybersecurity items (see 2110200036 and 2201110025). BIS said earlier this year it was planning to make minor revisions to the rule to address some public comments (see 2202100026). The agency sent the rule for interagency review March 8 (see 2203090013).
The Bureau of Industry and Security's upcoming shift in its administrative enforcement policies could signal a more aggressive posture toward cracking down on illegal exports and may change how companies voluntarily disclose violations, a former BIS agent said. But some lawyers say the policies could represent a minor shift, and it may be too early to tell how they will affect compliance decisions.
The U.K.'s new Strategic Export Licensing Criteria took effect May 19, the Department for International Trade's Export Control Joint Unit said. The updates include the intent to allow the U.K.'s military end-use controls to be applied to a wider array of scenarios and the addition of China to the list of those destinations subject to an arms embargo. Hong Kong and Macau are included in the arms embargo.
Technology executive Obaidullah Syed, of Northbrook, Illinois, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for illegally exporting computer equipment to a nuclear research agency in Pakistan, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced May 18. Syed pleaded guilty in 2021 to conspiring to ship the goods without a license and to submit false export information. Before sentencing, Syed forfeited $247,000 of cash derived from the illegal sales.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week suspended the export privileges of another Russian airline and identified a new plane likely violating U.S. export controls. The agency issued a 180-day temporary denial order for Rossiya Airlines, which blocks Rossiya’s ability to participate in transactions subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The U.K. also sanctioned the airline last week (see 2205190011).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is proposing new unilateral export controls on four dual-use biological toxins that can be weaponized to kill people or animals, “degrade equipment” or damage the environment, the agency said in a rule released May 20. Controls would apply to the marine toxins brevetoxin, gonyautoxin, nodularin and palytoxin, BIS said, all of which can be “exploited for biological weapons purposes.” The agency said it won’t categorize the toxins or their technologies as emerging or foundational technologies, and doesn't plan to continue to differentiate between the two categories going forward.
The EU announced that 10 European countries not in the EU have aligned themselves with the EU's recent decision to add eight individuals and four entities to its North Korea sanctions regime. The countries also imposing the restrictions are North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Moldova, the European Council said May 19.
The EU General Court in a May 18 judgment rejected an application from Syrian businessman Amer Foz to annul the European Council actions listing and then maintaining his listing on the Syria sanctions list. Subjecting Amer Foz to sanctions due to his family business interests and association with his brother, Samer, whose sanctions listing predates Amer's, is "well founded," the court said.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The January through March notices feature arms sales to numerous countries, including South Korea, Qatar, India, Saudi Arabia, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
The U.K. sanctioned three Russian airlines under its Russia sanctions regime in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Per a May 19 notice from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, JSC Rossiya Airlines, JSC Ural Airlines and PJSC Aeroflot will be subject to an asset freeze. OFSI also removed wrong information from the sanctions listings of Garantex Europe OU and Kamaz under the Russia sanctions list.