The U.S. announced new measures against people and companies helping Russia evade sanctions, adding 28 entities to the Commerce Department’s Entity List and more than 50 new entries to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List. The Entity List additions, effective April 12, include companies in China, Armenia, Malta, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, all of which have supported Russia’s military or defense industrial base. New designations imposed by Treasury and the State Department target people and companies operating in Russia or that are aiding Moscow's war effort and its imports of “critical technologies."

World Trade Organization members elected New Zealand's Clare Kelly to serve as the new head of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. Members at the March 27 meeting also reviewed five existing trade agreements, looking at the EU-U.K. RTA on goods and services, the economic partnership agreement between Eastern and Southern Africa states and the U.K., and the U.K.-Japan comprehensive economic cooperation and partnership agreement; the India-Mauritius CEPA; and the Turkey-Serbia free trade deal, WTO said. The next meeting is set for July 3-4.

The EU and the U.K. are stepping up Russia sanctions enforcement, mirroring U.S. efforts to increase prosecutions and designations of companies helping Moscow evade trade restrictions, two Europe-based lawyers said this week. They said European countries are increasingly taking steps to expand the extraterritorial reach of their sanctions authorities, warning companies to make sure they’re conducting careful due diligence.

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 32 parties to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify their “legitimacy and reliability” for receiving export-controlled items. The additions include 14 entries in China, five in the United Arab Emirates, four in Turkey, two in Germany and one each in Bulgaria, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

Five people from Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were charged in two cases at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, DOJ announced. They allegedly tried to obtain and export U.S. technology to Iran from 2005 to 2013.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four entities and three people in Iran and Turkey for procuring equipment for Iran’s drone and weapons programs. The designations target Farazan Industrial Engineering, a company that has tried to buy tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of European turbine engines for Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles, and its managing director Amanallah Paidar. Also sanctioned were Iran’s Defense Technology and Science Research Center; Murat Bukey, a procurement agent; Ozone Havacilik Ve Savunma Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, which facilitates Bukey’s business with Iran; Asghar Mahmoudi, who has provided marine electronics to Iran; and Selin Technic, used as a front company by Mahmoudi.

A Black Sea grain export deal, allowing continued safe passage of certain Ukrainian agricultural exports amid the country’s war with Russia, has been extended (see 2207250004). Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted March 18 that the U.N., Turkey and others worked with Russia to extend the deal for another 120 days, although Russia’s foreign ministry said it agreed to a 60-day extension, the Associated Press reported.

Turkey this month lifted the remaining export bans it had placed on agricultural products last year to counter “skyrocketing food inflation” (see 2202020032), USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a March 14 report. The country lifted restrictions on red meat, certain pulses, sunflower oil and tomatoes, USDA said, noting the ban on tomatoes had “triggered a backlash” within Turkey's tomato industry, which “depends on exports for its survival.” Turkey has gradually lifted its food export restrictions over the past year (see 2203170012 and 2207210009).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week announced a host of new Iran-related sanctions, including new designations against a “shadow banking” network aiding Iranian entities and new sanctions against a network of Chinese companies with ties to the country's unmanned drone industry. The designations target 39 entities illegally allowing Iranian companies to access the international financial system and a network of five companies supporting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle procurement efforts.

U.S. enforcement agencies this week issued their first joint “compliance note” to warn industry about common Russian sanctions evasion efforts. The note -- from the Commerce, Treasury and Justice departments -- outlines methods Russia uses to circumvent trade restrictions, including through intermediaries or transshipment points, and describes a range of red flags businesses should monitor.