The Office of Foreign Assets Control is modifying its North Korea sanctions regulations to amend a general license for humanitarian activities carried out by non-governmental organizations in North Korea. The agency also is adding three new general licenses for Commerce Department-authorized transactions, agricultural and medical goods, and some journalistic activities, it said.
A senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the dissection of Russian military equipment used in the Ukraine war frequently uncovers Western-made microchips.
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins said she is “very confident” Australia and the U.K. will qualify to receive International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) exemptions from the U.S., a key requirement for the AUKUS trilateral security partnership.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in 2024 is transitioning to a new "Sanctions Digital Guidance" format instead of its usual PDF guidance, the agency announced in a Feb. 13 blog post. The switch will allow for greater navigation, responsiveness, accessibility and compatibility, making the guidance available on any device, OFSI said. The transition will happen "throughout 2024," and during this time, interested parties will find sanctions guidance as a mix of digital and legacy PDFs. The agency kicked off the transition by making its general guidance available through the digital platform.
U.S. agencies met with European officials at a “Sanctions Coordinators Forum” Feb. 14 in Brussels to “discuss impacts and enforcement of our Russia sanctions regimes," the State Department said in a news release. State, along with the Commerce and Treasury departments, met with senior EU and member state government officials and delegations from the U.K. and Ukraine on topics including “the use of targeted sanctions to deter and disrupt malign Russian activity and to demonstrate our readiness to take action to defend international norms.”
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., pressed the Treasury Department on Feb. 14 to consider sanctioning Chinese online store Temu over allegations it uses forced labor to make its garments. During a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Luetkeyemer noted that Temu aired a commercial during the Feb. 11 Super Bowl, reflecting its growing presence in the U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson testified during the hearing that he would “take on board" the congressman's concern but could not comment on any potential sanctions activity by his department. Temu didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. this week sanctioned four entities and three people for procuring and facilitating the illegal export of “goods and technology from over two dozen U.S. companies” to Iranian end-users, including the Central Bank of Iran.
Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee on Feb. 14 criticized the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule (see 2401050023), saying it's too complicated and burdensome for small businesses.
The proposed Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, which would use sanctions and anti-money laundering measures to counter the illicit fentanyl supply chain (see 2401110042), passed the Senate Feb. 13 as part of a $95 billion national security supplemental appropriations bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. However, the fate of the fentanyl legislation is unclear, as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., criticized the Senate supplemental bill for failing to include funding for homeland border security.
Four lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to consider placing Chinese biotech company WuXi AppTec and its subsidiaries on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, the Treasury Department’s Non-Specially Designated Nationals Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List and the Defense Department’s Chinese Military Companies List. They said the firm has close ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has been involved in perpetrating the CCP's human rights violations.