European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen chose Maros Sefcovic as the bloc’s commissioner for trade and economic security, saying in a Sept. 17 mission letter that Sefcovic should help the EU take a “more assertive stance” on the use of sanctions and other economic statecraft tools, work to modernize the EU’s customs system, and push to finalize free trade deals.
Australia announced new sanctions this week against five senior Iranian security and law enforcement officials involved in the “violent repression” of protests in Iran, Australia’s foreign affairs ministry said. The designations mark the second anniversary of the arrest and subsequent death of Mahsa Jina Amini, who was accused of not correctly wearing a hijab. Australia said it has now sanctioned 195 Iran-linked people and entities, including almost 100 linked to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
President Joe Biden formally directed his administration last week to implement several new sanctions-related laws, including one aimed at Iranian oil exports.
The U.S. this week sanctioned five people and one entity with ties to the Intellexa Consortium, a web of companies that builds and uses spyware products. The designations target Felix Bitzios, Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi, Merom Harpaz, Panagiota Karaoli and Artemis Artemiou, who have ties to companies that are part of the consortium, and Aliada Group, a British Virgin Islands-based company and member of the consortium. The U.S. has previously sanctioned people and entities with ties to the group, which develops commercial spyware known as Predator that’s used to target government officials, journalists and others (see 2403050020).
The U.S. sanctioned two Georgian government officials and two Georgian citizens for their ties to the violent suppression of peaceful protests and expression in the country.
The Group of 7 nations and EU said they are preparing new sanctions in response to recent Iranian weapons transfers to Russia, following a similar statement by the Council of the European Union one day earlier (see 2409130036).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing a new interim final rule that would revise its space-related export controls “for changes made under Commerce authorities.” BIS sent the rule for interagency review Sept. 13. No further information was released.
After initially facing scrutiny for helping to facilitate Russia-related transactions, Cypriot banks have made significant progress in improving their compliance programs in recent months and are now adhering to all U.S. sanctions rules, the country’s top banking industry officials said this week. They also said they face hurdles implementing some of the sanctions, including potential legal challenges from customers.
The U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit issued two penalties valued at 348,000 pounds (about $457,000) combined between April and June, the agency announced last week. It fined one exporter 258,000 pounds (about $339,000) in April for alleged illegal transfers of dual-use goods, and fined another exporter 90,853.20 pounds (about $119,000) in June for alleged illegal exports of military goods. ECJU didn’t provide more information.
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced a bill Sept. 12 that would require the Commerce, Defense and Treasury departments to notify each other when adding a foreign entity or person to an export control or sanctions list. The proposed Sanctions Lists Harmonization Act is intended to improve coordination among the agencies and “prevent bad actors, such as Communist China, Russia and Iran, from taking advantage of a disjointed policy,” Rubio said. The measure, which was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, is a companion to a bill the House passed Sept. 9 (see 2409100024).