The Bureau of Industry and Security this week issued a correction to a recent interim final rule designed to remove export control barriers for standards-setting activities (see 2407170025). BIS said the rule “inadvertently revised language related to recent changes to the Entity List,” and the agency is correcting those “inadvertent revisions.” The correction takes effect July 25.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is expanding its export controls to make more items subject to license requirements under its Iran foreign direct product rule, increasing its Iran-related restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations. The final rule, which was released July 24 but took effect July 23, implements certain provisions in the wide-ranging national security bill President Joe Biden signed into law in April (see 2404240043).
Minsu Fang, a Chinese national, was indicted for allegedly conspiring to import what the U.S. government believes to be "the largest amount of fentanyl precursors found in the Southern District of Texas and one of the largest in the country," DOJ announced July 22.
The Biden administration should seek to remove trade barriers that are making it difficult for American producers of liquor and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to export their products to India, a member of Congress said July 23.
The House of Representatives approved by voice vote on July 22 a bill that would create an interagency working group to conduct research and develop legislative and regulatory proposals to counter sanctions evasion, terrorism financing and money laundering on digital platforms.
The Council of the European Union on July 22 sanctioned four people and two entities for "serious human rights abuses," including the systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence in Syria, Ukraine, North Korea and Haiti.
Stopping U.S. firms from participating in RISC-V, an open-source semiconductor architecture that policymakers fear China will use to evade export controls, would only hurt American innovation and competitiveness, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said this month.
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The EU is considering entities to be subject to sanctions if they are owned 50% or more by another sanctioned entity or party, a move that aligns the bloc with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control’s 50% rule. The announcement is a change from the EU’s previous position on the ownership test threshold, which had previously extended asset freezes to entities only if they were owned more than 50% by a sanctioned party, a law firm said this week.
A new research briefing by the U.K. Parliament's House of Commons examines the current state of sanctions against Russia, allied efforts to tackle sanctions evasion and the top countries continuing to support Russia’s military despite the restrictions: China, Iran, North Korea and Belarus. The 24-page report notes that the “focus” of the Group of 7 countries, along with the EU, has recently shifted to “preventing sanctions evasion and closing any remaining loopholes in the existing regime,” although Russia continues to find workarounds. The report said “questions remain” over “the effectiveness of those sanctions as Russia has sought alternative markets and established new trade routes and methods for circumvention.”