Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The EU added seven Iranian government officials, security officers and judges to its Iran sanctions list for committing "serious human rights violations." The designations target prosecutor Seyyed Mohammad Mousvian and deputy judge Ali Zare Nouri, both responsible for trials against protesters who were later executed, the European Council said June 26. Sanctions were also applied to Iranian officials Seyyed Nader Safavi Mirmahalleh and Seyyed Abbas Hosseini and police or military officials Seyyed Khalil Safavi, Mojtaba Fada and Rashid Kaboud Vandi.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week advanced two sanctions-related bills, one involving China and another dealing with Iran.
Republican senators reintroduced a bill last week that would allow Congress to approve or disapprove of Biden administration efforts to lift sanctions against Iran. The Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act, first introduced in 2021 (see 2102260025), would “provide a check on the Biden administration if they try to circumvent Congress during negotiations,” said Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman, both of Arkansas. “Congress should review any sanctions relief Iran receives.”
Canada this week announced a new set of sanctions against Iran, designating seven Iranian judges for their role in “gross and systematic human rights violations.” Canada said the judges are “notorious” for issuing death sentences and prison terms following sham trials based on evidence “gathered under torture.” The designations help align Canada’s Iran sanctions regime with those administered by the U.S., the EU and the U.K., the country said.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent European Council sanctions moves under its Iran and Syria sanctions regimes.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a $3.3 million settlement this week with a California-based skincare company and a $175,000 settlement with its former unnamed senior executive for illegal exports to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Murad, owned by multinational company Unilever, worked with distributors in Iran and the United Arab Emirates to ship goods to Iran, leading to at least 62 exports worth more than $11 million, OFAC said.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with three recent sanctions decisions from the EU under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaeda, Syria and Iran sanctions regimes, the European Council said.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent sanctions moves by the EU. Under the Iran sanctions regime, the council renewed the restrictions for another 12 months, until April 13, 2024, the European Council announced. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed this decision, the council said. The EU also implemented a humanitarian exemption to its sanctions regimes. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway aligned with the decision.
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not apply to criminal cases, the Supreme Court of the U.S. held in an April 17 opinion, opening Turkish state-owned Halkbank up to criminal prosecution for conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the author of the opinion, said the text of the FSIA, which the bank claimed protected it from prosecution, clearly shows it only addresses civil suits. Six of the court's justices sided with Kavanaugh, with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissenting (Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. U.S., Sup. Ct. # 21-1450).