The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on March 4 published a trade and export guide on doing business in Iran to support "sanctions-compliant trade" with the country. The guidance outlines export opportunities in the agriculture, healthcare, and food and drink industries along with the risks of doing business in Iran and the Iranian legal system. OFSI also summarized its current sanctions on Iran, which include trade sanctions on military goods, nuclear and missile-related goods and more.
The State Department this week announced penalties on two people and three entities and their subsidiaries for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act. The agency in a notice said the parties transferred items subject to multilateral control lists that contribute to weapons proliferation or missile production. The State Department barred them from making certain purchases of items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List and by the Arms Export Control Act and will suspend any current export licenses. The agency also will bar them from receiving new export licenses for any goods subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The restrictions will remain in place for two years from the Feb. 27 effective date.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has asked the Commerce Department for several types of information to help his panel better understand how Russia overcame export controls and sanctions to obtain U.S. technology for its military.
President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against Venezuela, the White House said March 5. The emergency was extended for one year.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and five entities behind commercial spyware used for human rights abuses and “mass surveillance campaigns.” The designations include the founder of the Intellexa Consortium, which OFAC said developed commercial spyware known as Predator and that is used to target government officials, journalists and others.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
American chip company Applied Materials has received multiple U.S. government subpoenas in recent months -- including one from the Bureau of Industry and Security -- asking for information about its exports to Chinese customers.
Russian citizen and Hong Kong resident Maxim Marchenko recently pleaded guilty to money laundering and smuggling after DOJ said he helped illegally ship U.S. dual-use microelectronics with military applications to Russia. Maxim was charged in September as part of a scheme that used shell companies to illegally source export-controlled items from the U.S. by giving false information to American distributors (see 2309190063).
House Republican conservatives introduced a bill to restrict outbound investment in Chinese tech companies, require the administration to impose sanctions "on entities knowingly engaging in a pattern of theft of American IP," and impose sanctions on "Chinese officials and entities until they have stopped the flow of deadly fentanyl, and we’ve determined that fentanyl overdoses/deaths have dropped by 98%." It also said the administration must sanction "Chinese apps that steal U.S. citizens’ data and protect personal health data from China."
The U.S. renewed a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions on people and entities that “undermine democratic processes” in Ukraine, the White House said March 4. The emergency will continue for one year beyond March 6.