Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.S. is preparing to ease some sanctions against Venezuela to encourage negotiations between the Nicolas Maduro regime and the U.S.-backed opposition party led by Juan Guaido, a senior administration official said. The official, speaking to reporters during a May 17 phone call, said the Guaido-led opposition party requested that the U.S. ease its sanctions pressure so the two sides can resume talks.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls should make several additional changes and clarifications to its first rule that reorganized its defense trade regulations, two commenters told the agency. The agency should include clearer definitions for end-use and end-user, a trade group said. An aerospace company urged DDTC to clarify sections of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations that could have “unintended consequences.”
The U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council hopes to make progress around the idea of a new multilateral export control regime by the TTC’s next ministerial meeting this fall, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. She said the group is thinking about which U.S. and EU technologies are “especially significant” and warrant multilateral controls, such as semiconductor equipment.
Iran is considering exporting natural gas to Europe in a potential bid to capitalize on international sanctions against Russian energy. An Iranian oil and gas ministry official said officials are “studying it but have yet to reach a conclusion,” the ministry’s news agency, Shana, said May 15. “However, Iran always seeks development of energy diplomacy and expanding the market.” The official didn’t say how it would export its product, which is subject to strict U.S. sanctions.
The EU Court of Justice in a May 12 opinion dismissed Evariste Boshab's challenge of the General Court's decision to uphold his placement on the EU's Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list, according to an unofficial translation. Boshab had argued at the General Court and then at the ECJ that the European Council infringed on his right to be heard during the proceeding that saw his continued listing. The EU's high court said a formal hearing wasn't needed to guarantee an individual's right to be heard.
The EU could cap the price of natural gas to skirt high energy costs if Russia limits or cuts off the flow of gas, Bloomberg reported May 15. The European Commission is considering a package of energy-market intervention steps to replace Russian gas, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg News. Concerns over Russian retaliation to EU sanctions grow as Russia's economy suffers from restrictions placed on it after its invasion of Ukraine. Importers are worried over how to pay for Russian gas while avoiding breaching sanctions, Bloomberg said.
The Commerce Department again renewed a temporary export denial order for Mahan Airways because the airline continues to violate the order and the Export Administration Regulations, according to a May 13 notice. Mahan Airways has been on the banned list since 2008, and Commerce said the Iranian airline increased its services into Moscow in April after the U.S. and other countries imposed sanctions and export controls against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine (see 2202240069 and 2203180049). The latest renewal is for 180 days from May 13.
International sanctions against Belarus have blocked about $16 billion-$18 billion worth of its annual exports to Western nations since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Reuters reported May 15. Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko told a state-owned media outlet this week that “almost all of Belarus' exports to the European Union and North America have been blocked” since the sanctions were imposed, according to the report. Belarus has been subject to many of the same sanctions and export controls applied to Russia because it has aided Moscow’s military in its war in Ukraine (see 2204080062 and 2204080008).
The departments of State and the Treasury, along with the FBI, issued a May 16 advisory regarding possible attempts by North Korean IT workers to obtain employment while posing as non-North Korean nationals, according to a notice from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.