A bipartisan group of senators urged President Joe Biden to consider sanctions if Turkey continues to interfere in Cyprus' territory. The U.S. should work with the European Union to “make clear” that Turkey’s continued attempts to develop the Varosha coastline will be met with multilateral sanctions, the senators said in a July 14 letter. “The U.S. and the EU should make clear to President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan that continuing to violate [United Nations Security Council] Resolutions and the rule of law is unacceptable,” said the senators, headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
The U.S. should impose sanctions against Russia for the Kremlin’s efforts to shelter cybercriminals responsible for a recent wave of ransomware attacks, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said. In a July 13 letter, Menendez urged the State Department to use the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act provisions to impose penalties on the Russian government. “[W]ithout significant pressure from the United States and its allies,” Menendez said, “the Kremlin is unlikely to curb the cybercriminals it currently shelters.” The State Department declined to comment.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review concerning firearms and other related articles that no longer warrant control on the U.S. Munitions List. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs July 13, would also issue corrections to those controls.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is again considering a rule that would make changes to its Strategic Trade Authorization license exception. The proposed rule, which was sent for interagency review June 13, would clarify the availability and expand restrictions on the availability of license exception STA under the Export Administration Regulations. BIS sent the rule for review last year but eventually withdrew it to conduct “further informal interagency consultation” (see 2011130008). STA authorizes certain exports, reexports and transfers of software source code and technology to foreign nationals in lieu of a license that would normally be required.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add six Russian entities to the Entity List for activities that threaten U.S. security and foreign policy, it said in a notice released July 16. The entities, previously sanctioned by the Treasury Department under President Joe Biden’s February executive order, operate in Russia’s technology sector and support the country’s intelligence services, the agency said in the notice, which is scheduled to take effect upon publication of the notice July 19. BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and a license review policy of presumption of denial. No license exceptions will be available. BIS also corrected one existing Russian entry on the Entity List.
Companies are continuing to see heavy U.S. enforcement surrounding Chinese attempts to steal U.S. trade secrets, and the government is increasingly expecting U.S. companies to voluntarily disclose violations surrounding those and other cases, lawyers said. The U.S. is hoping to increase enforcement by incentivizing companies to self-disclose sanctions and export control compliance mistakes, especially through the Department of Justice's revised disclosure policy guidelines (see 1912130047), the lawyers said.
European Union candidate countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania along with the European Free Trade Association nations of Iceland and Norway aligned their sanctions regimes with that of the European Union on Belarus, the European Council said in a July 13 news release. The newest wave of sanctions on Belarus banned the sale, transfer or export of dual-use goods and technologies for military use to anyone in Belarus (see 2106250009). The sanctions concern the May 23 forced landing of a Ryanair flight and subsequent arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
While the Biden administration has made clear its intentions to pursue stronger export controls over advanced semiconductor-related equipment, companies should also be prepared to see potential export controls over a range of other sectors that the U.S. deems to be too reliant on China, Baker McKenzie trade lawyer Kerry Contini said. Contini, speaking during a July 14 Baker McKenzie conference, pointed specifically to President Joe Biden’s February executive order to address supply chain issues (see 2102240068), which mentions the medical and agricultural sectors as well as the chip industry.
The Biden administration is preparing to launch new export controls and investment screening initiatives to more closely coordinate with allies and better combat Chinese attempts to acquire advanced technologies, the U.S. secretary of state and national security adviser said July 13. Although the administration supports offensive tools, such as more funding for the domestic semiconductor sector, both officials said the U.S will continue to evolve its approach to defensive trade restrictions.
The European Parliament passed a resolution on July 8 calling for sanctions on high-ranking Nicaraguan officials responsible for human rights violations. The resolution called for President Daniel Ortega, Vice-President Rosario Murillo and their "inner circle" to be sanctioned while "taking particular care to do no harm to the Nicaraguan people." The resolution points to an increasingly dire situation following the "violent repression of civic protests" in April 2018, after which more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee the Central American nation.