Italy blocked a shipment of 250,700 AstraZeneca vaccine doses headed for Australia, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a March 4 news release. Italy cited three reasons for the imposition of the export controls: Australia is considered “non-vulnerable,” there is an ongoing shortage of vaccines in the EU and Italy with delays of shipments between AstraZeneca and the EU and Italy and the number of doses in the shipment was comparable to the quantity of doses supplied to Italy so far. The move marks the first time an EU member state has used the EU's new vaccine export controls, which passed Jan. 29. Before Italy's use of the controls, experts had said that the controls were meant only to send a message to AstraZeneca, which was making large commitments with many non-EU nations, including the U.K. and Australia, leaving it in danger of falling short of its EU commitments (see 2103010022).
In a report to the Chinese legislature on March 8, Chinese National People's Congress Standing Committee Chairman Li Zhanshu declared his intention to pursue an expanded toolkit to combat U.S. sanctions, Bloomberg reported. Beijing pledged to speed up legislation intended to combat penalties imposed on China by former President Donald Trump. “We will upgrade our legal tool kit for meeting challenges and guarding against risks in order to oppose foreign sanctions, interference and long-arm jurisdiction,” Li said. At a news conference March 7, Foreign Minister Wang Yi had told the U.S. to not interfere in China's internal affairs, Bloomberg reported.
The Bureau of Industry and Security denied a New Jersey man export privileges after he illegally exported electronic components to Russia, BIS said in a March 8 order. BIS denied Alexander Brazhnikov export privileges for 15 years. Brazhnikov pleaded guilty to the charges in 2015 and was sentenced to 70 months in prison in 2016 (see 1607010044).
The United Nations Security Council removed one former Sudanese military official from its sanctions list because he died, the UNSC said March 5. The council delisted Adam Shareif, who was sanctioned as the commander of the Sudanese Liberation Army.
The Bureau of Industry and Security denied export privileges for a German aircraft maintenance company and fined it more than $50,000 for procuring U.S. parts and components for a sanctioned Iranian airline. MSI Aircraft Maintenance Services International GmbH & Co. worked with Iran’s Mahan Airways (see 2011270001) to illegally export U.S.-origin reservoir and valve assemblies, which were controlled under the Export Administration Regulations, BIS said in a March 5 order. The agency said it will waive MSI’s three-year export denial if the company pays the fine, cooperates with BIS during a three-year probationary period and doesn’t commit any more EAR violations.
House Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., told an online audience that over the next four months, the U.S. government is going to set the stage for a trade program that supports environmental goals. Blumenauer, a longtime environmentalist, said he's not concerned that the European Union will dictate the terms of a carbon border adjustment mechanism, since its politicians have a head start. “We’ve had preliminary discussions, we’re going to have more,” he said during a webinar March 5 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on environment and trade.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on March 5 updated an Iran-related entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The agency updated the entry for Hasan Mortezavi, who was sanctioned in 2010 for involvement with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force. OFAC didn’t release more information, and the Treasury Department didn’t comment.
Five companies said they may have violated U.S. sanctions, export controls or anti-corruption laws, according to their February Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The potential violations involved illegal exports, providing services to sanctioned territories and gift cards sent to the Chinese government.
Following a package of measures meant to flush out ties between United Kingdom businesses and forced labor practices in China's Xinjiang region, compliance efforts have ramped up to ensure that supply chains are free of any association with the practice imposed on the region's Uighur Muslim population. In October 2020 and January of this year, U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced a suite of four policies meant to eliminate forced labor from supply chains (see 2101120056). The policies include business guidance to U.K. companies with links to Xinjiang; strengthening the Modern Slavery Act (MSA), that includes levying fines for non-compliance; transparency requirements for government procurement; and a review of export controls to Xinjiang.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's January rule that expanded export restrictions on foreign military intelligence agencies (see 2102190042) and other activities of U.S. companies could lead to expansive licensing requirements and place burdensome compliance obligations on U.S. companies, Akin Gump said in a March 1 letter to BIS. The law firm said it represents a client that may be affected by the rule’s broad language and urged the agency to narrow its breadth to limit impacts on legitimate business.