The EU's directive regarding the criminalization of sanctions violations will take effect May 19. The bloc added the directive to its official journal, saying member states have 12 months to incorporate the policies into their internal rules. The new rules, among other things, set minimum penalties for sanctions violations and define sanctions violations (see 2404150010).
Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., introduced a bill last week that would expand the list of sanctionable offenses for human rights violations against Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region. The added offenses would include forced sterilization, forced abortions, forced organ harvesting and seeking the forced deportations of Uyghurs from third countries. The proposed Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act would also authorize secondary sanctions on business and government entities that aid human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced a similar bill last year (see 2305310024).
The State Department on April 30 released proposed regulations to implement an exemption from International Traffic in Arms Regulations licensing requirements for Australia and the U.K. under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) Enhanced Trilateral Security Partnership.
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Trade lawyers said that recent legislation expanding the statute of limitations on sanctions violations from five to 10 years comes with clear expectations: costlier and longer sanctions investigations.
The U.K. added a general license under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regime allowing legal service providers to receive and send payments to and from or on behalf of a sanctioned party. Sanctioned parties are likewise allowed to "pay professional legal fees, Counsel's fees, and/or Expenses to a Law Firm, a Legal Adviser, Counsel or a provider of Expenses for Legal Services which have been provided to that" sanctioned party. The legal fees may not exceed 1 million British pounds "per Law Firm" for the duration of the license, which ends Oct. 28.
The U.K. on April 29 amended the entry for Sanaullah Ghafari under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The listing was updated to reflect that Ghafari is the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan.
China expressed serious concern over the Japanese government's announcement of plans to implement new export controls on semiconductors and other technologies, according to a summary of answers to reporters' questions from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said the move is an effort to generalize the notion of national security and abuse export control measures to fragment the global semiconductor market. The result will "seriously affect the normal trade exchanges between Chinese and Japanese companies" and damage the global supply chain. China said it will "take necessary measures" to safeguard its interests.
Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., introduced a bill last week that would require the Biden administration to review whether 44 Azerbaijani officials should face Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act sanctions following the “ethnic cleansing” of Armenians from the Artsakh area and the “violent repression” of political opposition.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., urged the Biden administration April 29 to counter Russia’s use of cryptocurrency to evade U.S. financial sanctions and buy high-tech weaponry for its war against Ukraine.