The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on April 2 updated its general license authorizing certain transactions involving the U.K. Companies House, the government agency that maintains a register of companies incorporated in the U.K. The license authorizes certain payments between sanctioned parties and the agency.
A senior State Department official this week said an ongoing effort among the U.S., Australia and the U.K. to reduce defense trade restrictions will soon lead to an “unprecedented” level of technology sharing, adding that the three countries are open to adding more nations, including potentially Japan.
President Joe Biden spoke April 2 with Chinese President Xi Jinping, raising concerns about Chinese “support” for Russia’s defense industrial base and the importance of U.S. technology export controls. “The President emphasized that the United States will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine our national security, without unduly limiting trade and investment,” the White House said in a readout of the two leaders’ phone call. The White House also said Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plan to visit China.
The Fish and Wildlife Service will once again automatically apply import and export restrictions to species it designates as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, reinstating its “blanket rule” protections in a final rule released April 2.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 2 removed sanctions from VTB Bank Europe, the European subsidiary of Russian state-owned VTB Bank.
The International Trade Commission is preparing for new Chinese export controls on germanium and gallium to have a potentially “significant” impact on global supply chains, it said in a recently issued executive trade briefing (see 2307050018).
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Beijing is looking to grow Renminbi-based financial networks to create an alternative to the dollar-dominated global financial system, which could help the country shield itself from some Western sanctions if it invades Taiwan, researchers and policy experts said this week. Although China isn’t yet ready to rely on those networks, that could change within several years, experts said.
The Czech Republic added one entity and two people to its Russia sanctions regime March 28, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. The entity is Voice of Europe, an allegedly pro-Russian media operation in Europe operated from the Czech Republic. The people are Viktor Medvedchuk, a former pro-Russian Ukrainian politician who allegedly bankrolls Voice of Europe, according to Reuters, and Artem Marchevskyi, the leader of Voice of Europe.
The European Commission last month updated two Russian sanctions FAQs reon the subject of state-owned enterprises, both related to insurance coverage for certain vessels and ports. The FAQs, updated March 25, explain under what scenarios EU insurers can make payments involving Russian state-owned companies, including payments directly to a port owned by one of those companies, and more.