The U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit is changing how it processes license applications to try to increase efficiency, it said in a notice this week.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and 10 other Republican senators introduced a wide-ranging China bill Sept. 19 that contains several export control, sanction and foreign investment provisions, including “modifying the Missile Technology Control Regime” to increase cooperation under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) security partnership.
Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Tim Kaine, D-Va., both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a bill Sept. 19 that would authorize the president to sanction foreign adversary entities that provide support to China’s maritime militia.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said late Sept. 18 that he's working to build Senate support for his bill that would sanction foreign persons who contribute to the construction of a tunnel from Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.
Four Republican lawmakers urged the Biden administration Sept. 19 to carry out two new Iran sanctions laws, both of which have deadlines that already passed.
State Department officials have spoken with Cyprus industry representatives to train them on sanctions requirements, a State Department spokesperson said Sept 19. “Private sector implementation of sanctions is critical to their success,” the spokesperson said. “The Department of State has engaged Cypriot stakeholders to raise awareness on, promote best-practices in, and help implement relevant sanctions regimes.”
The U.K. is warning its companies to look out for North Korean information technology workers who are disguising themselves as freelance IT workers from other countries to generate revenue for the North Korean government in violation of sanctions. An advisory recently issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation asks U.K. firms to report suspicious activity to the government and outlines how North Korean workers may try to secure freelance jobs with British businesses. It also lists a range of red flags U.K. companies should monitor and encourages them to only use “reputable” online freelance platforms for hiring freelance workers, conduct background checks, avoid payments in cryptocurrency and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned five entities and one person involved with Russian and North Korean efforts to set up illegal payments mechanisms and help the countries evade sanctions. The designations target MRB Bank, based in the Russia-occupied Georgian region of South Ossetia, along with Russia-based TSMRBank, OOO; Russian Financial Corporation Bank JS; Stroytreyd LLC and Timer Bank, AO. OFAC also sanctioned Dmitry Yuryevich Nikulin, vice president of TSMRBank.
The State Department is drafting a proposed rule that could revise the International Traffic in Arms Regulations by updating export controls on certain launch vehicles, ballistic missiles and other items in Category IV of the U.S. Munitions List and spacecraft and related items in Category XV of the USML. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Sept. 17, would "describe more precisely the articles warranting control on the USML," the agency said. It would build on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking issued in March 2019 that solicited comments on changes to Categories IV and XV.
The top lawmaker on the House Select Committee on China called on the U.S. to continue imposing strict export controls and investment restrictions against China, adding that those tools must be coupled with bolder investments in innovative American companies if the U.S. wants to “win” its technology competition with China.