Three export controls and trade experts submitted a 40-page paper this month to help guide the work of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council’s export control working group (see 2111290014). The paper -- submitted by the Center for a New American Security's Emily Kilcrease and Akin Gump lawyers Kevin Wolf and Jasper Helder -- includes a broad outline of the purpose of export controls and the U.S. and European Union legal authorities available to implement them. It also describes steps the U.S. and the EU would need to take to implement new, coordinated controls and a set of questions to consider while developing the controls, including whether the U.S. and the EU will push for better alignment across license exceptions, encryption controls, cyber-surveillance controls and enforcement.
The Commerce Department should publish a list of controlled emerging and foundational technologies 90 days after the Senate confirmation of its Bureau of Industry and Security leader, China Tech Threat's Future of BIS said. Strand Consult operates China Tech Threat, which advocates for stronger export controls on China. Despite congressional pressure (see 2111170064), BIS has repeatedly said it doesn’t plan to publish an exhaustive list of controlled emerging and foundational technologies but rather will issue controls on a continuous basis. A BIS spokesperson didn’t comment.
The U.S. and the European Union should better align their export license exceptions, export controls and policies to avoid “unnecessary friction on trade” between the two sides, particularly surrounding chip equipment, the Semiconductor Industry Association said. The group said American semiconductor companies depend on overseas markets in Europe, and regulatory harmonization could help to “level playing fields with respect to export controls, particularly their scope, application, and enforcement.”
The United Kingdom amended its Burundi sanctions regime in a January regulation following the largely peaceful transfer of power in the African nation resulting from the May 2020 elections. The changes "revoke and replace" the 2019 Burundi sanctions regime with its new sanctions parameters, drop the criteria for listing individuals or entities over their obstruction of the search for a peaceful solution to Burundi's political situation, and remove language encouraging the Burundi government to bring about a peaceful solution to its political situation. The U.S. has already revoked its Burundi sanctions regime to reflect the same changes.
Seven countries aligned with the EU's Dec. 13 decision to add two individuals and three entities to its Syria sanctions regime, the European Council said in a Jan. 19 news release. The countries are North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Georgia.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control made a technical amendment to the definition of “applicable schedule amount,” which establishes a base penalty for non-egregious sanctions violations cases that do not involve a voluntary self-disclosure. OFAC has periodically raised its “applicable schedule amount” to correspond to the agency’s civil monetary penalties, which are adjusted annually for inflation (see 2104090006). Under the new definition, the applicable schedule amount “will automatically rise with OFAC’s CMPs, removing the necessity of updating the applicable schedule amount on an annual basis,” the agency said. The change becomes effective Jan. 21.
The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked export privileges for an Idaho resident after the person tried to illegally export firearms from the U.S., BIS said Jan. 20. Khaldoun Hejazi was convicted March 2, 2020, of exporting defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List, which violated the Arms Export Controls Act. Hejazi was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release, fined $30,000 and assessed $100. BIS denied Hejazi’s export privileges for five years from the date of conviction.
The State Department imposed sanctions on China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation First Academy, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Fourth, and Poly Technologies Incorporated due to missile technology proliferation, it said in a notice. Such entities are denied new individual licenses for items on the U.S. Munitions List and all items controlled under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 for two years.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is amending the Transnational Criminal Organizations Sanctions Regulations and reissuing them in their entirety. OFAC said, in a notice that the reissuance will further implement two executive orders related to transnational criminal organizations, issued July 24, 2011, and March 15, 2019. OFAC amended the regulations to provide “additional interpretive guidance, definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public.” The regulations implement targeted sanctions directed at persons that constitute a significant transnational criminal organization or persons that have materially assisted, or provided financial, material, or technological support for those organizations.
The U.S. this week imposed new sanctions against Russia for its “destabilizing” activities in Ukraine and privately previewed a harsher set of potential trade restrictions, including major new export controls on chip equipment. Although it remains unclear if those specific export restrictions would be coordinated with allies, the U.S., Germany and the U.K. all said Jan. 20 that they are ready to impose “massive consequences and severe economic costs” on Russia if it continues down a path to war.