The European Union threatened more sanctions on Venezuela if no “concrete results” are reached during the upcoming negotiations scheduled between Venezuelan leader Juan Guaido and opposition-party leader Nicolas Maduro, the EU Council said in a July 16 press release. The council said it welcomes the negotiations, which are being brokered by Norway, and said the two sides must reach a “genuine engagement” that results in “internationally monitored elections.” If not, “the EU will further expand its targeted measures,” the council said.
The European Union Council renewed sanctions against North Korea, including asset freezes on entities and people who contribute to the country’s ballistic missile programs and sanctions evasions, the council said in a July 15 press release. The council said its sanctions against North Korea are the toughest against any country and will be lifted if there is a “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.” The sanctions regime targets 57 people and nine entities.
The European Union is looking at options for potential Turkey sanctions “in light of Turkey’s continued drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the European Council said in a July 15 press release. The council directed the European Commission to “continue work on options for targeted measures” directed at Turkey. The announcement stems from Turkey’s “illegal” drilling west and northeast of Cyprus despite the EU’s “repeated calls” to stop, the council said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 8-12 in case they were missed.
Global export controls and international sanctions are not stopping luxury goods from entering North Korea, which is employing a significantly larger smuggling scheme than previously known, according to a July 16 report from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS), a nonprofit research organization in Washington. The 56-page report details how North Korea works with intermediaries, freight forwarders, private financiers and others to smuggle luxury goods into the country. The report also places North Korea’s smuggling system into context: Between 2015 and 2017, at least 90 countries “served as luxury goods procurement sources” for North Korea, the report said.
The European Union General Court annulled an act that sanctioned seven Ukrainians, including the country’s former president and other government officials, according to a July 15 post on the EU Sanctions blog. The court removed sanctions from former Ukrainian president Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr Viktorovych Yanukovych, former minister of revenue and duties Oleksandr Klymenko, former prime minister Sergej Arbuzov, former prosecutor general Viktor Pshonka and his son Artem Pshonka, and the former head of the president’s administration Andriy Klyuyev. All annulments were announced July 11.
The dispute between Japan and South Korea over Japan’s export restrictions on advanced technology materials will be raised at the World Trade Organization, according to a July 15 report from The Korea Herald. The report cited a statement from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, which said the issue has been named as a formal agenda item of the July 23-24 WTO General Council. The move came at the request of South Korea, the report said. The announcement follows Japan’s decision to restrict exports and licensing policies of certain “controlled items” and technologies to South Korea (see 1907010020).
Commerce denied export privileges for two Iranian nationals and their company after they tried to export a $15,000 micro drill press from the U.S. to Iran, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a July 8 denied export order. Commerce also fined them $300,000 for trying to violate the Export Administration Regulations and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.
The House on July 15 passed a bill that would order the president to impose sanctions on corrupt government officials in the Northern Triangle countries, according to a press release from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The bill, titled the "United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act," would sanction officials involved in bribery, extortion and money laundering through asset freezes and U.S. travel bans. Violators of the sanctions would be subject to penalties in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Britain is considering approving new powers for enforcement of financial sanctions violations, according to a July 15 post on the EU Sanctions blog. The considerations, outlined in the United Kingdom’s 2019-2022 Economic Crime Plan, published in July, could give “private sector supervisors” power to “take enforcement action where there are deficiencies in sanctions implementation,” the post said. The U.K. will also investigate “whether powers to block listings on national security grounds would be appropriate,” the post said.