China’s recently published rules to further implement its anti-foreign sanctions law makes clear that Beijing could take legal action against anyone helping to implement a foreign sanction aimed at China, Wilmer Hale said in a recent client alert.
China’s Ministry of Commerce this month issued new FAQs about its dual-use export controls, including guidance on how exporters should determine whether an item is subject to China’s controls.
Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced a bill April 10 aimed at preventing the smuggling of U.S. artificial intelligence chips into China.
The Council of the European Union on April 14 sanctioned seven individuals and two entities under its Iran sanctions regime for their role in arbitrarily detaining EU "mono and dual nationals on spurious grounds" and executing members of ethnic and religious minorities, the council said. The entities are the Shiraz Central Prison and the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz. The individuals are members of the judiciary, including two involved with the prison system.
Seven Senate Republicans led by Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., called on the Commerce Department April 11 to replace its “burdensome” rule to regulate the global diffusion of advanced AI chips and models.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., reintroduced a bill April 9 that would authorize the president to sanction foreign persons and vessels involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The Protecting Global Fisheries Act was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Kaine previously introduced the legislation near the end of the last Congress (see 2412200016).
Property management companies, real estate agents and other firms in the property services industry are underreporting suspected sanctions violations to the U.K. government, a U.K. sanctions agency said last week. The country’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said it suspects those firms are illegally helping sanctioned Russians buy or sell property, adding that Russians are likely being aided by small-scale property service firms or “sole practitioners with high-risk appetites” and long-standing relationships with sanctioned people.
A British court last week sentenced two Russians, including one former senior trade official, to prison for violating U.K. sanctions against Russia. The case marks the first conviction in the U.K. for a breach of sanctions under its Russia Sanctions Regulations, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
John Hurley, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial crimes (see 2502120058), said April 10 that he wants to "understand better how we can tighten the focus” on Chinese companies that steal U.S. innovations.
Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., announced April 9 that they are introducing a bill designed to strengthen sanctions enforcement against Russia’s “ghost fleet” of oil-carrying ships.