Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Senate’s decision last week to not pass a bill that would have required new sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying it sends a “message of appeasement” to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Senate couldn’t reach the 60-vote threshold required to pass the bill after the White House convinced many Democrats to vote against the legislation, which it said would have undermined unity with Europe (see 2201130067).
The U.S. should try to use existing tools to better screen outbound investments rather than create a new investment regime, which could burden American companies and damage U.S. competitiveness, two former U.S. officials and an international investment expert said. But one member of a bipartisan congressional commission said a new outbound investment regime is necessary to better protect U.S. critical technologies and national security.
The U.K. updated its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida and South Sudan sanctions regimes in a pair of financial sanctions notices. For its South Sudan sanctions list, the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the entry for Paul Malong Awon Anei, chief of general staff of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The U.K. also updated its ISIL information on the Consolidated List to reflect the changes made by the United Nations to its ISIL sanctions list, adjusting the entries for 62 individuals and entities.
Seven countries not in the European Union aligned themselves with the EU's recent sanctions decisions regarding Belarus, Syria and human rights violations, the European Council said. Concerning Belarus' actions to amass migrants at the EU border, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway aligned with the EU's decision to amend the listing criteria used to impose sanctions. They agreed to conform their national policies with the EU decisions.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to list five tryptamine hallucinogens -- 4-OH-DiPT, 5-MeO-AMT, 5-MeO-MiPT, 5-MeO-DET and DiPT -- under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released Jan. 13. “If finalized, this action would impose the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess), or propose to handle these five specific controlled substances.” Comments are due by Feb. 14.
A European Union law holding that entities cannot comply with the requirements in the laws of a third country applies even in the absence of an order to comply with the third country's laws, the European Court of Justice said in a December 2021 judgment. However, an EU company can terminate contracts with a person or entity subject to U.S. sanctions without giving reasons for such termination or without authorization from the European Commission, a summary of the judgment said. But, the European high court said the burden of proof is on the party terminating the contract to show it nixed the contract for a reason other than compliance with the third country laws.
Peter Sotis and Emilie Voissem, two Florida residents, were sentenced Jan. 12 for conspiring to and illegally attempting to ship export-controlled rebreather diving equipment to Libya, the Department of Justice said. Sotis will spend 57 months in prison while Voissem will serve a five-month sentence in prison and a five-month term in home confinement. The scheme to illegally export the rebreather equipment -- an item that is export controlled due to its enhanced underwater breathing capabilities and dual use as a military and civilian item -- was hatched in August 2016.
A bill that would have imposed sanctions on companies associated with the Russia-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline was rejected by the Senate Jan. 13 after it failed to garner the necessary 60 votes to pass. The bill, introduced in December by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex. (see 2201110059), faced strong opposition from the White House, which said before the vote that the bill would “only serve to undermine unity amongst our European allies,” including Germany (see 2201110059).
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is requesting an explanation from the General Services Administration after it reportedly provided a portal for U.S. agencies to buy technology produced by a Chinese company on the Entity List. In a letter to GSA, Rubio pointed to reports that the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Defense Department’s Defense Finance and Accounting Service and the Department of the Army all used the GSA Advantage portal to buy hard drives and video surveillance equipment manufactured by Lorex, a subsidiary of Dahua Technology. Dahua Technology was added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2019 for providing the Chinese government with surveillance equipment to monitor the country’s Uyghur population.
Republicans and Democrats this week urged two State Department nominees to work transparently with Congress so lawmakers can perform better sanctions oversight, which they say has been a major hurdle during the last year. The Biden administration has been unhelpful in responses to some congressional sanctions queries, the lawmakers said, which has led to disagreements and confusion surrounding U.S. sanctions against Nord Stream 2 and some country-specific regimes.