The European Commission on May 27 issued a "yellow card" notification to Senegal, telling the country to beef up its "fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated" fishing. The decision was made based on "serious shortcomings detected over the last years" with Senegal's compliance, the commission said, adding that it has caught "illegal exportations from Senegal to the EU market."
Several provisions relating to sanctions and export controls are included in the Senate version of the FY 2025 Intelligence Authorization Act, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said in a bill summary released last week.
The Council of the European Union on May 28 renewed for another year its sanctions measures on Syria, also extending the humanitarian exemption in the restrictions regime. The sanctions now run until June 1, 2025, and cover 316 people and 86 entities. The humanitarian exemption was originally introduced in February 2023, following an earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. The council also removed five deceased people and "one other individual" from the sanctions list.
The Council of the European Union on May 27 sanctioned two people and one entity involved in Russian war propaganda, including “propaganda actions targeted at civil society in the EU and its neighbouring countries.” The designations target media outlet Voice of Europe; Artem Marchevskyi, a "concealed head” of Voice of Europe; and Viktor Medvedchuk, a political figure who has “promoted policies and actions intended to erode [the] credibility and legitimacy” of Ukraine.
The Council of the European Union established a new sanctions framework to target entities and people responsible for undermining democracy and committing "serious human rights violations" in Russia, it said May 27. Along with the announcement, the EU sanctioned the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, which manages Russia's prison system, along with 19 judges, prosecutors and other judiciary members.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three Chinese nationals for their ties to a “residential proxy botnet” called 911 S5 that allows hackers to hide their locations and evade fraud detection systems. The designations target Yunhe Wang, Jingping Liu and Yanni Zheng along with Spicy Code Company Limited, a company used by Wang to buy real estate, and Tulip Biz Pattaya Group Company Limited and Lily Suites Company Limited, other companies owned by Wang.
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control revised its Cuba sanctions this week to loosen restrictions on a range of activities and transactions, including for certain financial and internet services. Some changes will allow certain Cuban nationals to open and remotely use U.S. bank accounts and will authorize certain Cuba-related remittances and payments that were restricted by the Trump administration.
The State Department this week announced penalties on three people and two entities and their subsidiaries for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
A bipartisan group of six senators introduced a bill last week that would sanction Georgian officials for passing “foreign agents” legislation that cracks down on civil society organizations and independent media outlets.