The U.S. is on track to inform Congress later this month that Australia has a comparable export control system to that in the U.S., clearing the way for the country to benefit from eased defense trade restrictions, the two nations said in a joint statement after Aug. 6 meetings in Maryland.
The U.K. last week expanded the criteria under which an individual or entity can be sanctioned under the nation's Russia sanctions regime. The changes entered into force July 31. The U.K. may now sanction an individual who directly or indirectly "owns or controls" or is "working as a director (whether executive or non-executive), trustee, or other manager or equivalent of," a sanctioned individual or entity. An individual also can be sanctioned for providing financial services to a sanctioned party. The sanctions amendment also altered the "ship specification criteria" to "specify additional activities" for which a ship may be affected.
Reps. Young Kim, R-Calif., and Colin Allred, D-Texas, introduced a bill last week that would authorize the U.S. president to impose property-blocking sanctions on People’s Republic of China (PRC) entities that harm the environment or public health in Africa.
An Iran-backed militia’s rocket attack that injured U.S. troops in Iraq this week underscores the need for the Biden administration to increase enforcement of Iran oil sanctions to reduce Tehran’s funding for terrorism, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said in a statement Aug. 5.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Paraguayan tobacco company Tabacalera del Este S.A. for financially supporting former Paraguayan President Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara, sanctioned by OFAC last year for corruption (see 2301260073). The agency previously added Tabacalera del Este to its Specially Designated Nationals List for being owned by Cartes (see 2303310033), but Cartes has since sold the company, OFAC said, so the agency is now designating it under a 2017 executive order that authorizes Global Magnitsky sanctions for serious human rights abuses and corruption.
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Recently issued guidelines by the White House’s Office of Science Technology Policy could raise export compliance stakes for universities and research institutions, law firms said, especially for researchers that receive semiconductor-related federal funding under the Chips Act.
Alex Parets, a former senior sanctions policy adviser with the Treasury Department, has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a nonresident senior associate, Parets announced on LinkedIn. Parets left Treasury last year to join Capital One as head of enterprise screening and sanctions risk management.
The U.K. on Aug. 5 amended a Russia sanctions license allowing designated parties to make certain payments to British billing authorities. The update added a permission to the list of permitted payments, allowing for the payment of fees "owed by or due from UK" sanctioned parties to the billing authorities for "Business Improvement District levies."
The Council of the European Union on Aug. 5 sanctioned another 28 people for suppressing human rights in Belarus. The designations target two deputy heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Main Department for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption, which conducts "arbitrary and unlawful arrests" of activists and civil society members, the council said. Members of the judiciary and correctional institutions were also included for "politically motivated sentences" imposed against activists. Others sanctioned include "a group of long-time supporters of" Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, including the host of a news program and chairman of the Youth Council at the National Assembly of Belarus.