The Bureau of Industry and Security last week modified its temporary denial order against Russian airline Azur Air to update the airline’s address. The order now lists Azur Air as located in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. It was previously listed with a Moscow address. BIS last renewed the order for one year in September, barring the airline from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (see 2409200059).
The Pentagon's response to Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology's claims against its designation as a Chinese military company shows that the department "has no evidence" and "made no finding" that the company is "in any way connected to the Chinese military," Hesai said in a brief at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Hesai Technology Co. v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-01381).
Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, reintroduced a bill Jan. 30 that would sanction Chinese individuals and entities that engage in a pattern of intellectual property theft from the U.S.
A group of 13 House Democrats urged the Trump administration Jan. 31 not to ease sanctions on Venezuela as part of a deal to return Venezuelans living in the U.S. to their home country.
Congress could encourage greater use of sanctions by changing the reporting requirements it imposes on the executive branch, a think-tank leader told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jan. 30.
The U.K. removed Nikolay Ivanovich Bortsov, a former member of the Russian assembly, from its Russian sanctions list on Jan. 30. Bortsov died in April 2023.
The Council of the EU on Jan. 30 renewed its list of individuals and entities subject to sanctions for engaging in terrorism, though it delisted one deceased person. The sanctions currently apply to 14 individuals and 22 groups and now run until Feb. 22, 2027.
The European Commission last week published a first-of-its-kind report on dual-use export control licensing patterns that it says will give companies, governments and the public a “better understanding of how export controls are applied” within the bloc.
President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the federal workforce are unlikely to target the Bureau of Industry and Security, which is already dealing with employee shortages as it carries out U.S. export control policy, a former senior BIS official said.
Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, reintroduced a bill Jan. 29 that would require the president to identify and sanction those responsible for torture, abductions and other human rights abuses against Southern Mongolians in China. Merkley said the bill is intended to counter China’s efforts to erase Mongolian culture and language. The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Policy Act was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Merkley previously introduced the bill in November.