The Office of Foreign Assets Control and Chicago-based private equity firm IPI Partners reached a nearly $11.5 million settlement to resolve accusations that the firm violated sanctions against Russia through its business dealings involving a designated Russian oligarch.
The Council of the EU, which is made up of government ministers from each EU country, voted last week to eliminate customs duties on industrial products and to grant tariff rate quotas for some seafood and agricultural products. It also voted to extend duty-free treatment for U.S. lobster exports. That tariff treatment had expired in July.
Advanced technology and AI companies largely supported the Commerce Department’s new effort to create a program aimed at increasing U.S. exports of AI technologies and services, with some saying companies should commit to "rigorous" export compliance conditions before being allowed to participate. One company said the U.S. should require businesses to automate their compliance for exports involving certain dual-use AI models, saying manual compliance presents too many “failure points.”
EU ministers and Parliament members this week urged the bloc to respond forcefully to China’s rare earth export restrictions if Beijing doesn’t repeal them or swiftly grant export licenses to European companies. Some also said they’re skeptical Beijing’s one-year suspension for some of its export controls will last.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said Nov. 21 that he plans to file a discharge petition to force a House vote on a bill to impose additional sanctions on Russia and new tariffs on countries that buy its oil and gas.
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Nov. 17 submitted a proposed rule for interagency review that would extend the maximum time allowed for reexports of controlled substances outside the European Economic Area, which is currently 180 days from the date of the original release from CBP. The change would "increase the flexibility for reexportation of controlled substances."
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced a bill last week that would require the Bureau of Industry and Security to conduct a competitive market review of applications to export items to entities on the agency’s Entity List.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license Nov. 21 that authorizes certain transactions with Paks II Civil Nuclear Power Plant, a Hungary-based power plant made with certain Russian-origin technology. General License 132 allows certain transactions involving the plant and 12 Russian banks and financial institutions, including Gazprombank, Sovcombank, Russia's National Clearing Center and the Central Bank of Russia. The license has no expiration date.
The U.S. should work with its allies to increase export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME), components and services to limit China’s ability to make computing chips, former government officials told lawmakers Nov. 20.
Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, which oversees the Bureau of Industry and Security, introduced a bill Nov. 17 to promote multilateral coordination on export controls for chipmaking equipment.