The U.S. government is sanctioning four people with links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including members of an ISIS-linked human smuggling network, the State and Treasury departments announced last week.
The State Department last week labeled the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a Sweden-based neo-Nazi group, and three of its leaders as specially designated global terrorists.
Multinational companies conducting internal sanctions investigations are facing a range of challenges interviewing employees due to a rising “divergence” among different governments’ sanctions regimes, Baker McKenzie said in a June client alert. Sanctions investigations “require a nuanced understanding of the applicable and often multi-faceted sanctions laws” across the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and other European nations, the law firm said. Investigators, for example, may face hurdles from data protection laws in the EU, and they may need to take into account “cultural norms and language barriers” when conducting cross-border interviews. “Cultural customs may require the interviewer to conform to cultural norms,” the firm said, “meaning that interpretation of non-verbal employee behavior for example, should be modulated accordingly.”
The next administration should look to raise criminal penalties for trade theft, broaden the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and refocus its export controls on military technologies to better compete with China, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said this week. ITIF also said the U.S. should push for a new “techno-economic alliance” of key trading partners and develop a new multilateral export control regime focused on semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Russian investment fund VEB.RF's application to be removed from the bloc's Russia sanctions regime, according to an unofficial translation. The European Council sanctioned the financial institution for helping undermine the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and providing material support to "Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Eastern Ukraine."
The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Syrian businessman Issam Shammout's challenge to his designation under the bloc's Syria sanctions regime. Shammout, an executive for airline company Cham Wings Airlines and the Shammout Group, was sanctioned due to his position as a "leading businessperson operating in Syria."
Sergey Nefedov of Anchorage and Mark Shumovich of Bellevue, Washington, were charged June 11 with conducting a scheme to illegally export nearly $500,000 worth of snowmobilers and associated parts from the U.S. to Russia, DOJ announced.
The U.K. added two entities to its Central African Republic sanctions regime June 13, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The entities are Diamville and Wood International Group Sarlu, both associates of the paramilitary Wagner Group.
The U.K. on June 13 added 42 entries to its Russia sanctions regime, imposing restrictions on seven individuals and 35 entities, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said June 13 that he has made substantial progress in putting together a major China bill since he disclosed several months ago that he was developing such legislation.