The Office of Foreign Assets Control is sanctioning 16 entities, eight people, five vessels and one aircraft for their involvement in the Iranian military’s drone trade, the agency announced April 25.
Russia is still able to buy semiconductors for its war effort -- especially from China -- despite Western sanctions and export controls, a semiconductor policy researcher said in a new report this month. Although the restrictions are forcing Russia to pay almost double for some chips and require Russian supply chain managers to constantly find new supply lines, the report said Chinese suppliers are increasingly filling the market gap left by companies in the U.S. and elsewhere who are adhering to the export restrictions.
The Bureau Industry and Security on May 30 will begin revoking some export licenses for firearms, and shortening the lengths of others, in line with changes to export controls for firearms made in an interim final rule released April 26.
European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent EU sanctions moves concerning Iran and human rights abuses, the Council of the EU announced.
The Dutch Supreme Court on April 24 said it will refer two preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice concerning the effect of EU Russia sanctions on sanctioned parties' shareholder voting rights, according to an unofficial translation.
President Joe Biden signed into law April 24 a wide-ranging national security bill that will, among other things, ban TikTok in the U.S. if China’s ByteDance doesn't sell the popular social media application to an entity that isn’t controlled by a foreign adversary (see 2404220041 and 2404180020).
U.S. exports of semiconductors and their components to China dropped 39% to $6.8 billion in 2023 and were down 52% from their 2021 peak, partly due to restrictions the Bureau of Industry and Security released in October 2022 and expanded a year later (see [Ref:2310170055), the U.S.-China Business Council said April 23.
The State Department will “probably” meet a new deadline to finalize an International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) exemption for Australia and the U.K. under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) Enhanced Trilateral Security Partnership, a department official said April 23.
DOJ charged 10 individuals with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela by shipping aircraft parts to service the company's fleet in Venezuela.
Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer highlighted U.S. and European cooperation on sanctions and export controls while speaking at the Transatlantic Business Summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and BusinessEurope, and said their governments are working on more ways to punish Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.