The U.S. government should combine its various export control and sanctions lists into two distinct lists, which could allow the government to better implement trade restrictions and improve industry compliance, a congressional commission heard this week. The commission also discussed whether U.S. export control agencies should have to release more information about their licensing decisions, with one witness saying more transparency would increase business certainty, while another said it would discourage candor between the government and exporters.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
A December executive order that gave the U.S. broader authority to sanction financial institutions involved in shipping goods to Russia has had a “meaningful impact” on Russia’s military industrial supply chains so far, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this week.
A disruption involving help desk services for customs business numbers used by Canadian importers and customs brokers is leading to delays and increased storage fees, the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers said in a letter to the government this week. The group urged the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency to fix the issue, saying the disruption is causing days worth of delays for routine procedures that previously took minutes.
The U.S. declined to prosecute a Massachusetts biochemical company that was part of an illegal export scheme involving China, the first time DOJ’s National Security Division has offered a corporate declination under its recently updated voluntary self-disclosure program.
The U.K. this week issued a new warning to shipowners and brokers seeing large profits from selling older ships to unknown buyers, saying they need to make sure they aren’t selling to a person with ties to Russia or who plans to violate Russian oil sanctions.
The U.S. hasn’t done enough to coordinate its China-related trade restrictions with U.S. allies, especially its semiconductor export controls, Craig Allen, head of the U.S.-China Business Council, told Biden administration officials this week.
U.S. export controls may not be the best way to counter China’s legacy semiconductor industry, especially because the EU and other allies aren’t likely to adopt similar restrictions, researchers said this month. The researchers said they expect the U.S. to turn more frequently to entity-based controls -- including through the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List -- and other national security tools to address risks relating to more mature-node chips.
A Virginia-based technology company said it received warning letters from both the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Office of Foreign Assets Control after disclosing possible Russia-related sanctions violations to both agencies last year.
EU industry gave a wide range of feedback on the European Commission’s January white paper on export controls, saying they support the idea of a new EU-wide forum to coordinate on export restrictions and urged the commission to do more to make sure new controls are introduced evenly across all member states. Others said the EU should set binding deadlines for licensing decisions, fix the bloc’s “vague” export definition for intangible technology transfers, and make it easier for companies to navigate EU member states’ increasingly conflicting export rules.
U.S. companies doing business in Turkey should be “alert” about possible violations of U.S. antiboycott laws after Turkey announced a ban on trade with Israel earlier this month (see 2405030020), the Bureau of Industry and Security said.