The U.S. this week unveiled new trade and financial restrictions against people and companies across more than 17 countries for helping Russia evade sanctions or for supporting the country’s military, adding nearly 400 to the Treasury Department’s sanctions list and more than 40 to the Commerce Department’s Entity List. Another move by Commerce will tighten existing controls on nearly 50 entities that it said are procuring U.S.-branded microelectronics for Russia.
An updated general license issued by the U.K. this week increases the cap on fees that can be paid to British law firms by parties subject to Russia-related sanctions, clarifies how the license applies to in-house lawyers, and more.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week renewed a temporary export denial order for Mahan Airways -- along with other entities and people tied to the Iranian airline -- after discovering a Taiwan-based company recently used the airline to send export-controlled parts to Russia.
Western nations imposing export controls against Russia should shift their focus away from microchips and instead prioritize the key raw materials and machine tools that Moscow needs for its artillery, according to a report this month from the U.K-based Royal United Services Institute and Open Source Centre. The report calls for more enforcement against Chinese machine tool suppliers and new, “strict sanctions” against companies shipping materials like chrome ore that Russia uses for its weapons.
The EU will officially impose countervailing duties on electric vehicle imports from China (see 2408200020) despite months of lobbying from Beijing against the new tariffs (see 2410250015), which are meant to address EU concerns around Chinese EV subsidies. The new duties will remain in place for five years and will take effect the day after they’re published in the Official Journal of the EU, expected to be this week.
The Treasury Department's new outbound investment rules will officially take effect Jan. 2, creating new prohibitions and notification requirements to limit certain U.S. business activities in China’s semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum sectors. The 297-page final rule, released in pre-publication form Oct. 28, adopts many of Treasury’s proposed regulations issued in June (see 2406210034) with a host of notable tweaks and clarifications, including a more detailed description for the rules’ AI investment threshold and insight into the agency’s due diligence expectations for U.S. companies.
A State Department proposal to revise the definition of defense services could cover an overly broad set of activities and likely exacerbate the already lengthy processing times for commodity jurisdiction requests and export license applications, defense industry groups and firms said in public comments to the agency released last week.
Chinese government efforts to obscure which firms have public links to the country’s military are making due diligence more complicated, but compliance officers can use several strategies to overcome those challenges, said Colby Potter, a former intelligence official with the State Department.
The Federal Maritime Commission needs more employees and funding to investigate and penalize violators of shipping laws, especially for costly cases that move to U.S. courts, the commission’s enforcement division director told the FMC this week. Commissioners also said the FMC is closely scrutinizing ocean carriers and terminal operators accused of unfair surcharge practices stemming from the recent labor strikes at U.S. East and Gulf coast port terminals.
The Federal Maritime Commission’s enforcement arm is investigating two cases involving potentially unlawful or unfair maritime shipping practices, including one that hasn’t yet been made public, said John Crews, director of the FMC’s Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance.