Even as the European Council agreed on the approach to a carbon border adjustment mechanism, a lawmaker in the EU Parliament said that the fact that CBAM did not make it out of the trade committee showed how thorny it will be to get a law passed to hike tariffs on imports that do not come from countries that are fighting climate change as strongly as the EU.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a list of about 100 commercial and private aircraft that have violated U.S. export controls by flying into Russia, including planes operated by the country’s main airline operators and one owned by a Russian oligarch. BIS said it will impose penalties, jail time or revoke export privileges for any company or person that violates the Export Administration Regulations by providing “any form of service” to the aircraft without a required BIS license. The list includes planes owned by Russian airlines Aeroflot, AirBridgeCargo and Utair and Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.
As the U.S. continues to tighten Russia export controls (see 2203110056), more companies may ask customers to sign end-use statements as a way to document their due diligence, said Marwa Hassoun, a trade lawyer with ArentFox Schiff. Businesses must also make sure they are taking certain minimum compliance steps to comply with U.S. sanctions, said ArentFox Schiff sanctions lawyer Matthew Tuchband, including more regular screening of restricted party lists.
Republican senators criticized President Joe Biden's choices not to levy sanctions on Russia before last month's invasion of Ukraine, and questioned why the sanctions now aren't tougher, during a press conference March 16 at the Capitol.
A group of countries aligned with the EU's third wave of sanctions on Russia and Belarus following their full-scale assault on Ukraine. On March 9, the European Council added 160 individuals to the list of parties subject to the sanctions. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine also imposed that decision, the council said. Those same countries further implemented the council's decisions to restrict the export of maritime navigation goods and technology to Russia, expand the list of legal individuals and entities subject to the ban on investment services and transferable securities, and impose additional sectoral measures against the Belarusian financial sector.
The State Department this week released a report to Congress of people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua who may be engaging in corruption or undermining democratic processes. The individuals, who include senior government officials, will be subject to visa restrictions and could face other sanctions.
In response to the deluge of sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Russia announced sanctions of its own against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Americans. The 13 U.S. officials and other individuals listed by the Foreign Ministry also include Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, according to an unofficial translation. Russia also sanctioned Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 312 other Canadian officials. The measures include a travel ban and asset freeze.
The Commerce Department is still working on its long-awaited routed export rule and is unsure when it will be finalized, officials said this week. Kiesha Downs, chief of the Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch, said Census is “still in a holding pattern” for the rule, which requires more work between Census and the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The Census Bureau has received mostly opposing comments on a proposal for a new country of origin data element in the Automated Export System but hasn’t yet made a decision about whether to move forward with the change, said Kiesha Downs, chief of the agency’s Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch. The rule (see 2112140033), which would require U.S. exporters of foreign-produced goods to declare the country of origin (COO) for their item in AES, could lead to costly compliance challenges (see 2201040044), companies and trade groups recently told the agency.
The U.K. added eight individuals and one entity to its cyber sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a March 15 notice. The listed individuals are Aleyona Chuguleva, Darya Dugina, Yuriy Fedin, Denis Gafner, Yevgeniy Glotov, Valeriya Kalabayeva, Aelita Mamakova and Mikhail Sinelin. The listed entity is United World International. All are subject to a travel ban and asset freeze.