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 U.K. on July 3 issued a general license authorizing certain transactions between sanctioned parties and the National Settlement Depository. The license allows certain designated parties -- except for those subject to Russia-related sanctions -- to "carry out any activity reasonably necessary to sell, divest or transfer" debt and equity securities and financial instruments held by the National Settlement Depository. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said any party conducting a transaction under the license must keep records on those transactions for a minimum of six years. The license runs through Aug. 13.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted two Russia-related entries from its Specially Designation Nationals List. The agency removed Marina Igorevna Tsareva, who was sanctioned in 2018 for helping to procure underwater equipment and diving systems for Russian government agencies, and Alexey Valeryevich Panferov, who OFAC had sanctioned in 2022 as part of a tranche of designations targeting Russia's defense industrial base. An agency spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about why OFAC removed both from the SDN List.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said July 8 that he hopes to have a "significant package of China-related legislation" signed into law this year, including measures to "punish" Chinese military firms that provide material support to Russia and Iran.
The EU on July 3 declined to extend the protections in the Energy Charter Treaty -- a trade and investment deal for the energy sector -- to investments and investors from Russia and Belarus in order to boost its sanctions enforcement efforts, the European Commission announced. While neither Russia nor Belarus is a party to the Energy Charter Treaty, investors from these countries could theoretically use corporations set up in a signatory country to allege that the EU or its member states have violated "investment protection obligations" of the ECT and bring investor-state dispute settlement proceedings, the commission said. The EU's move eliminates the basis for making any such claim.
Douglas Robertson, former vice president of KanRus Trading Co., pleaded guilty on July 2 to conspiring to violate U.S. export laws by shipping "sophisticated and controlled avionics equipment to customers in Russia," DOJ announced.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on July 3 updated a range of Russia-related entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List and Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List to specify that they present secondary sanctions risks. The agency added language to those entries to clarify that they present a secondary sanctions risk under “Section 11 of Executive Order 14024,” a 2021 order that authorizes certain sanctions against Russia. The agency didn’t provide more information.
EU governments need to do more to stop China from exporting dual-use items to Russia, including by sanctioning more Chinese companies and imposing secondary sanctions on foreign banks and other entities that are helping to facilitate those transactions, three think tanks said in a recent report.
Germany on June 28 arrested four people, searched 23 residential and commercial buildings and seized various cash and assets pertaining to the illegal sale and export of passenger cars to Russia in violation of EU sanctions, according to an unofficial translation of a press release from the country's customs agency. The customs authorities seized over $14.5 million worth of euros, "extensive business documents" and five vehicles. The four arrested individuals are accused of exporting over 170 luxury vehicles to Russia since the end of 2022.
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.