The Office of Foreign Assets Control is officially removing its Syrian Sanctions Regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations after President Donald Trump earlier this year ended the national emergency that authorized those sanctions (see 2506300055 and 2507010012). The change is effective Aug. 26.
Delisting decisions at the Office of Foreign Assets Control are increasingly being driven by outside voices, leading to removals that lack transparency and interagency discussion, a former OFAC official said.
The EU last week issued new guidance on a requirement created in 2024 that calls on EU parent companies to make “best efforts” to ensure that their third-country subsidiaries aren’t enabling sanctions evasion (see 2411220014 and 2406240024). Although this “legal obligation applies only in the context of sanctions on Russia and Belarus,” the European Commission said it’s encouraging all EU parent companies “to seek to ensure that all entities they own or control do not undermine EU sanctions anywhere in the world.”
The State Department rescinded its statutory debarment of Dominick DeQuarto after receiving a reinstatement request, the agency said in a notice released Aug. 22. The agency debarred DeQuarto in 2020 for violating the Arms Export Control Act but determined the debarment should no longer apply after conducting a “thorough review of the circumstances surrounding" his conviction. The State Department determined that DeQuarto has taken “appropriate steps to address the causes of the violations sufficient to warrant rescission of his statutory debarment.”
A U.S. business owner allegedly exported gun parts and accessories to Russia illegally by routing them through Kazakhstan and mislabeling the shipments to evade authorities, DOJ said last week. Maxim Larin, a Florida resident who owns multiple U.S.-based firearms supply companies, illegally worked with a person in Russia to evade export restrictions and ship items controlled under both the Export Administration Regulations and International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the agency said.
When the Senate returns from its August recess, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said, he wants the chamber to take up a major Russia sanctions bill to spur Moscow to end its war with Ukraine.
The U.S. should pass the Chip Security Act, a bill that would mandate location tracking for U.S. exports of certain advanced chips (see 2506250027), because it would allow American firms to boost exports of chips without “losing visibility or control over where those chips end up,” argued Kit Conklin, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Three House Democrats introduced a bill Aug. 22 that would require Congress, not just the executive branch, to approve the sale of certain advanced AI chips to China.
The Trump administration is likely still working out how to implement its supposed revenue-sharing chip export deal with Nvidia, including whether the agreement is allowed under U.S. law, a former U.S. diplomat said.
Jinchao Wei, a former sailor with the U.S. Navy, was found guilty this week after being accused of illegally exporting military information and technical data to China. Wei was convicted on several counts, including espionage and illegally exporting technical data related to defense articles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 1.