The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Commerce Department Oct. 16 to restrict exports of U.S.-made semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) to Huawei's “clandestine network” of companies.
Responding to Iran’s recent missile attacks against Israel, Australia this week sanctioned Iranians with ties to the country’s missile program. The designations, added to the country’s consolidated sanctions list Oct. 15, target a senior official in Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization; the director of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, a unit within the Aerospace Industries Organization; and the commercial director of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, a unit responsible for Iran’s ballistic missile programs.
The U.S. this week sanctioned people and companies involved in a sanctions evasion network for the terror group Hezbollah and others that help produce and transport Captagon, an addictive amphetamine, to help fund the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.
New, long-awaited EU guidelines released this week outline how exporters should identify cyber-surveillance technologies that may not yet be controlled by member states but may still be subject to bloc-wide reporting rules. The guidelines, which the European Commission had been drafting for years and was aiming to issue this month (see 2409260001 and 2303310025), also list a range of customer red flags and describe due diligence expectations for companies exporting these items, including that they screen all end-users and consignees and carry out a detailed “risk assessment” for each transaction.
The U.S. will soon reduce licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items to a range of countries and may transfer export control jurisdiction over other space-related defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department, according to four rules released by the agencies Oct. 17. The rulemakings are designed to “modernize” U.S. export controls on space technologies, a senior Commerce official told reporters, including by easing restrictions on exports of less sensitive space technologies, certain spacecraft-related items and more.
American defense firm RTX will pay close to $1 billion to resolve allegations that it tried to defraud the U.S. government and committed violations of defense export control regulations and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ and the SEC said Oct. 16. The company agreed to enter into two deferred prosecution agreements to settle the claims, which included Raytheon’s alleged failure to report bribes in export licensing applications and its submission of false information to the U.S. as part of multiple foreign military defense contracts.
Brad Brooks-Rubin, the State Department’s former sanctions policy lead for sub-Saharan Africa, Myanmar and natural resources issues, left the agency last week, he announced on LinkedIn. Brooks-Rubin had worked in the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination since June 2022.
A new U.K. general license authorizes certain transactions with sanctioned parties involving U.K. government debt. The license, issued Oct. 14, allows certain payments "in respect of UK Government Debt where either the legal holder or the direct or indirect recipient or beneficiary of that payment is a UK" sanctioned or "prohibited" party, "provided the payments are held in Frozen Accounts or UK Prohibited Persons Accounts." The license defines "prohibited" parties as people and entities subject to certain sanctions against Russia or Belarus, and it defines "UK Government Debt" to mean "all securities issued by, or on behalf of His Majesty's Government in respect of money borrowed by His Majesty's Government."
The Council of the European Union on Oct. 14 renewed its chemical weapons sanctions regime for another year, extending the sanctions until Oct. 16, 2025. The restrictions currently cover 25 people and three entities.
The Council of the European Union on Oct. 14 added five people and one entity to its Moldova sanctions regime for actions related to Russian attempts to destabilize the country. The sanctions include the governor of the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia, Evghenia Gutul, as well as other officials in the territorial unit. The council also listed Evrazia, a Russia-based group "whose goal is to promote Russia's interests abroad," along with its director and founder Nelli Parutenco.