Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced a bill March 24 that would give the administration the authority to sanction foreigners that create space debris without notifying the U.S government. "The bill would include exceptions for instances in which the foreign entity has been acting within a civil space cooperation agreement with the United States or has been working in compliance with United Nations law enforcement objectives, as well as for the importation of goods," his press release said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and five fellow Republicans introduced legislation March 25 to renew the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act until the end of December 2034. The current law's expiration date is the end of this year. The Magnitsky Act provides authority to impose sanctions on individuals responsible for human rights violations.
Two House oversight committee leaders are looking into Credit Suisse’s compliance with Russian sanctions after the investment firm reportedly asked investors to destroy documents about yachts and private jets owned by its clients. The Credit Suisse directive, reported by the Financial Times in February, “raises significant concerns that it may be concealing information about whether participants” are “evading sanctions” imposed by the U.S. and other countries against Russia, said Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security.
The top Democrats on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China urged House and Senate leadership to include several sanctions and export control-related provisions (see 2202030062) in the final version of Congress’ China competition bill. As leadership begins negotiations on legislation to reconcile the versions passed in the House and Senate (see 2203210064), they should make sure not to omit “robust provisions on human rights principles,” said CECC Chair Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Co-Chair Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass.
The U.K. amended one entry and corrected two others under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said March 25. The entry for Sovcomflot was amended to change its address. Entries for Oleg Yurievich Tinkov, founder of Tinkoff Bank, and Eugene Markovich Shvidler, former nonexecutive director of Evraz, were corrected.
The U.K. added three individuals and three entities to its Myanmar sanctions regime, in a March 25 notice. The individuals are Aung Moe Myint, Belarus' honorary consul to Myanmar; Htun Aung, member of the State Administration Council; and Aung Hlaing Oo, managing director of Myanmar Chemical & Machinery. The entities are Miya Win, Dynasty International and Myanmar Chemical & Machinery.
The past several weeks at U.S. sanctions agencies have ranked among the busiest times in recent memory, especially at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, where some employees are working nearly nonstop to implement and enforce new sanctions against Russia, former officials said in interviews. While some former officials said the extra work could shift minor projects to the side, lawyers are concerned it could also delay more pressing agency priorities, including licensing requests.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its general financial sanctions guidance to discuss aggregation. The new paragraphs say that OFSI doesn't simply aggregate different designated individuals' holdings in a company when making an ownership assessment unless the shares are subject to a joint arrangement between the designated parties or one party controls the other's shares. "Consequently, if each of the designated person’s holdings falls below the 50% threshold in respect of share ownership and there is no evidence of a joint arrangement or that the shares are held jointly, the company would not be directly or indirectly owned by a designated person," the guidance said.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added one entity to its cyber sanctions regime, in a March 24 notice. The Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics, based in Moscow, is now subject to an asset freeze. OFSI said the institute was responsible for a cyberattack on a petrochemical company in August 2017.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated six individuals in the United Arab Emirates for raising money on behalf of Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria. OFAC actions follow arrests in the UAE in September, which OFAC says "demonstrates the commitment of the Emirati government to using judicial measures and targeted financial sanctions to disrupt the flow of funds to these networks."