Canada, Germany and the Netherlands released a joint advisory this week to give their companies guidance on how they can identify and report suspected Russian sanctions and export control evasion. The advisory, issued by the financial intelligence units of each country, includes a list of red flags, suggestions for customer due diligence and various case examples of Russian companies trying to evade sanctions.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The notifications cover licenses submitted from January through March, April through June and July through September, and include exports to Japan, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Canada, the U.K., Ukraine, Turkey, Norway, Germany and elsewhere.
The U.K. on Feb. 6 extended by six months its general license authorizing certain humanitarian-related transactions under its Syria sanctions regime. The exemption will now run through Aug. 14 and allows humanitarian organizations, including the U.N., to carry out humanitarian activity in Syria needed to deliver earthquake relief in Syria and Turkey.
The U.S. unsealed an indictment this month charging seven people with helping Iran violate U.S. sanctions through a billion-dollar smuggling network that sold oil to buyers in China, Russia and Syria. DOJ also seized $108 million that the network tried to launder through correspondent accounts at U.S. banks.
Turkey will appeal a World Trade Organization dispute panel finding against its retaliatory duties on certain U.S. goods, the WTO announced Jan. 31. Because the Appellate Body is nonfunctional as the U.S. prevents vacancies from being filled, the appeal goes "into the void." As a result, Turkey's tariffs may stand without further rebuke from the WTO.
The U.S. this week sanctioned three entities and one person for providing “critical” funding to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezbollah financial network, including by generating hundreds of millions of dollars from sales of Iranian commodities to the Syrian government and elsewhere.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two cybersecurity experts with ties to the Islamic State group along with a “financial facilitator” that has helped to transfer funds to Islamic State officials in Syria.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Jan. 26 that he will approve granting the request from Turkey to the U.S. for the purchase of F-16 fighter jets, following that country’s approval of Sweden’s accession to NATO.
The U.S. will make a statement in the dispute on the U.S. origin marking requirements for goods from Hong Kong during the World Trade Organization's Jan. 26 dispute settlement body meeting, the WTO said. A dispute panel ruled against the U.S. national security defense of its trade measure requiring goods from Hong Kong to be labeled as being made in China (see 2212220029).
Electronics distribution company Broad Tech System and its president and owner, Tao Jiang of Riverside, California, pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to participating in a conspiracy to illegally ship chemicals made or distributed by a Rhode Island-based company to a Chinese firm with ties to the Chinese military, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. Jiang and Broad Tech admitted to violating the Export Control Act and conspiring to commit money laundering.