The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation reminded industry this week that the new, lower price cap for Russian oil took effect Sept. 2 (see 2507180017). The new $47.60 cap is down from the previous $60 cap announced about two years ago (see 2212050014). The U.K. added that there is a 45-day wind-down period, ending Oct. 17, for existing contracts to comply with the new cap.
Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Jason Crow, D-Colo., introduced a bill Sept. 2 that would authorize the president to impose property-blocking sanctions on Tunisian officials responsible for the country’s recent democratic backsliding and increased human rights abuses.
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Sept. 3 that the U.S. should immediately enforce sanctions on Serbia’s majority-Russian-owned oil company, NIS, to punish Belgrade for its "subservience" to Moscow.
The House approved several export control and sanctions bills late Sept. 2, including two aimed at China.
A State Department spokesperson declined to say whether the agency has rescinded the visas of family members of International Criminal Court officials sanctioned by the U.S., as alleged by ICC judge Kimberly Prost (see 2509020041). "Due to visa record confidentiality, we have no comment on Department actions with respect to specific cases," the spokesperson said Sept. 2 in an email. Prost, an ICC judge sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control last month, said this week that some of her sanctioned ICC colleagues have children in the U.S. on temporary visas, and those visas "have been revoked.”
The U.K. on Sept. 3 revoked a sanctions license that previously permitted the continuation of business of Evraz's North American subsidiaries. The license let individuals and corporations continue business operations involving Evraz North America, Evraz Inc. NA and Evraz Inc. NA – Canada and their subsidiary companies.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed sanctions on Belarusian national Iryna Litviniuk, which were imposed in 2022 for "exploiting" the Guatemalan mining sector, and Musbah Mohamad M Wadi, who was sanctioned in 2020 for his ties to a network of smugglers "contributing to instability" in Libya. OFAC had originally added Litviniuk to the Specially Designated Nationals List under its Global Magnitsky sanctions regulations, and it added Wadi under its Libya sanctions. The agency didn't provide more information about the delistings.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned China-based Guangzhou Tengyue Chemical Co., which it said is involved in the manufacture and sale of synthetic opioids to Americans. The agency also sanctioned Huang Xiaojun and Huang Zhanpeng, two representatives of Guangzhou Tengyue who were "directly involved in coordinating the shipments" of those illegal drugs and dangerous chemicals to the U.S.
Barloworld, a South Africa-based industrial equipment company, said it may have violated U.S. export controls and has disclosed the issue to the Bureau of Industry and Security.
A Texas-based freight forwarder will pay the Office of Foreign Assets Control more than $1.6 million to settle allegations that it violated sanctions against Venezuela and Iran. OFAC said company employees bypassed its sanctions compliance program procedures by working with a designated Venezuelan airline and an Iran-linked aircraft to transport goods from Mexico to a customer in Argentina.