The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control released its Biennial Report on Licensing Activities detailing license applications the agency processed for authorization to export to Iran and Sudan. The Aug. 19 report, which covers OFAC actions from October 2014 to September 2016, is mandated by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 and covers OFAC applications that request permission to export “agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices” to Iran and Sudan. The report includes the number of applications OFAC received, issued and denied. OFAC requested public comments on the TSRA’s licensing procedures in 2018 and said it received one comment that pointed to the “difficulties in using the financial mechanisms in place for making payments related to transactions” under the TSRA.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 12-16 in case they were missed.
Britain's Department for International Trade released an Aug. 19 guidance on exporting controlled goods after Brexit, detailing changes exporters may face if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without a deal. The guidance covers exporting military items, firearms, dual-use goods, civil nuclear material and how exporters can best prepare for the changes. The U.K. suggested exporters use the “goods checker” tool to check if they will need an export license when shipping to EU countries.
Gibraltar's recent release of an Iranian oil tanker that had been seized by British authorities in July for potential sanctions violations came despite requests from the U.S. to continue to detain the ship, according to a statement released Aug. 18 by the United Kingdom territory.
President Donald Trump on Aug. 19 designated Brazil a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally “for the purposes … of the Arms Export Control Act,” according to a notice. The announcement allows the U.S. to loan and sell Brazil certain goods and services subject to the AECA.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 19 renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and added 46 more of the company’s non-U.S. affiliates to the Entity List, bringing the total number of impacted Huawei affiliates to more than 100.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade released its August report on the U.K. Strategic Export Control Lists, detailing which military dual-use items need export licenses. The 298-page report covers export controls for the U.K.’s Military List, Dual-Use List, Security and Human Rights List and Radioactive Source List. The report also covers the European Union’s Non-military Firearm List, Human Rights List and Dual-Use List. The report summarizes the text of current export control legislation.
South Korean and Japanese officials will meet in Beijing this week amid the countries’ trade dispute over export controls, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Aug. 16. The meeting is the first between the foreign ministers of the two sides in three years, South Korea said, and will feature the foreign minister of China as well. South Korea also said it is trying to hold separate bilateral talks with both Japan and China “on the sidelines” of the meeting in Beijing. The meetings, which South Korea said will take place Aug. 20-22, come as both Japan and South Korea are entrenched in a trade dispute dating back to July 1, when Japan announced restrictions on exports to South Korea involving chemicals needed to make computer chips and other high-tech goods (see 1907010020).
The United Nations Security Council added two people to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions List, the council said in an Aug. 14 press release. Ali Maychou, a Moroccan national and member of al-Qaida, and Bah Ag Moussa, a founding member of Ansar Eddine, a militant Islamist group, were sanctioned. The sanctions imposed asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes on Maychou and Moussa.
The State Department announced sanctions on the former director general of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services, the agency said in an Aug. 14 press release. Salah Abdalla Mohamed Mohamed Salih was sanctioned for “gross violations of human rights,” including accusations of torture, while he was head of Sudan’s NISS, the press release said. The State Department is also sanctioning Salih’s family members: Awatif Ahmed Seed Ahmed Mohamed and Shima Salah Abdallah Mohamed.