Annie Froehlich, former in-house counsel for home appliance manufacturer Carrier, has joined Cooley as special counsel in the Washington, D.C.-based export controls and economic sanctions practice, the law firm said. At Carrier, Froehlich served as director and senior counsel for the company's Sanctions and Export wing, leading the manufacturer's Center of Excellence for Regulatory Compliance. Before Carrier, Froehlich worked at Latham & Watkins on export controls and sanctions matters. Froehlich is also a nonresident senior fellow at D.C. think tank Atlantic Council, most recently focusing on U.S. export control developments relating to China.
The leaders of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees urged the Biden administration to impose more sanctions on the Bashar al-Assad regime to “reinforce” the U.S.’s position against Syria. The lawmakers said several Arab partners have continued formal and informal relationships with the regime despite its “horrific” human rights abuses, and more sanctions could make sure the regime remains isolated.
The U.S. on Jan. 12 sanctioned seven people and one entity for helping to procure goods for North Korea’s weapons and missile programs. The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Russia-based North Korean national Choe Myong Hyon and four China-based North Korean weapons procurement officials: Sim Kwang Sok, Kim Song Hun, Kang Chol Hak and Pyon Kwang Chol. The State Department sanctioned North Korean national O Yong Ho, Russian national Roman Anatolyevich Alar and Russian entity Parsek LLC for helping to deliver weapons materials to North Korea. OFAC said the sanctions follow North Korea’s six missile launches since September, which violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Australia this week began implementing a U.N. Security Council exemption for certain humanitarian-related activities and transactions involving the Taliban in Afghanistan. Under the exemption, adopted by the UNSC Dec. 22 and implemented by Australia Jan. 11, certain “payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary” for humanitarian aid will “not constitute an offence under Australian sanctions laws,” Australia said. All other transactions or activities not covered by the exemption may still violate Australian sanctions, the country said. The U.S. recently issued new guidance and general licenses to help humanitarian aid flow more easily to Afghanistan (see 2112220041).
More than 25 Senate Democrats introduced a bill this week that would impose a host of sweeping new sanctions against Russia -- including new restrictions on Russian debt, dealings with government officials and banks -- if Russia further invades Ukraine. The legislation, led by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., would also require the administration to expedite deliveries of defense shipments to Ukraine and would authorize new sanctions on certain financial messaging service providers and Russia’s energy and mineral extraction industries.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week fined a Hong Kong company more than $5.2 million after it illegally bought more than 64,000 tons of Iranian thermoplastic, the largest fine by OFAC in more than a year. The agency said Sojitz illegally bought the Iranian “high density polyethylene resin” from a Thai supplier to sell to Chinese consumers. OFAC determined the case to be non-egregious, partly because senior compliance officials weren’t aware of the illegal purchases and had repeatedly told its employees that they could not buy Iranian goods with U.S. dollars.
India will appeal a World Trade Organization panel's reports that support cases brought by sugarcane producers, to the Dispute Settlement Body, the WTO said. Brazil, Australia and Guatemala brought the initial cases, which resulted in a panel report finding that India was not acting in line with its agricultural commitments. In the Dec. 14 panel reports, the WTO said that for five consecutive sugar seasons, India gave nonexempt product-specific domestic support to producers in excess of the permitted 10% level of the total value of sugarcane production via three assistance programs (see 2112140081). India's appeal will fall on deaf ears, however, since the U.S. has routinely blocked efforts to fill the vacancies on the Appellate Body, precluding the possibility of an appeal at the Appellate Body.
Iran imposed retaliatory sanctions on 51 U.S. citizens over their alleged role in the death of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The listed individuals include former or current U.S. government, military and CIA officials along with national security advisers and private business owners. The list includes Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley; Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser; Nikki Haley, former U.N. ambassador; and Erik Prince, founder of private military company Blackwater USA, now called Academi. Iran said the sanctions were made under the "Act on Countering Violations of Human Rights and Aventurist and Terrorist Actions of the United States of America in the Region." It said the U.S. "flagrantly breached" its international obligations in counterterrorism by participating in the death of the general.
The U.S. is working with Japan to build a multilateral forum to control exports of advanced technologies, which would be specifically aimed at limiting shipments to China’s military, The Japan News said Jan. 10. The forum would also include Europe and other like-minded countries and could restrict sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, quantum cryptography, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, the report said. The two sides are “currently specifying the fields to be subject to regulation” and hope to “establish a new framework for a small number of countries with advanced technology.” The White House didn’t comment.
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