The Federal Maritime Commission will soon ask for public comments on a proposed plan to collect new tonnage and cargo capacity data from certain ocean carriers. Under the proposal, which includes a 60-day comment period once published in the Federal Register, the FMC would collect information from carriers on the total import and export tonnage and the total loaded and empty 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) per vessel.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of a Venezuela-based cargo airline for violating U.S. export controls. The agency said Empresa de Transporte Aereocargo del Sur, also known as Aerocargo del Sur Transportation or EMTRASUR, acquired “custody” of a U.S.-origin Boeing aircraft from Mahan Air -- a sanctioned Iranian airline (see 2205160035) -- and illegally flew that plane between Venezuela, Iran and Russia.
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The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. this week issued its annual report to Congress, outlining statistics from the first full calendar year in which CFIUS operated under expanded authorities granted to it by the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (see 2002270049 and 2001140060). CFIUS said it received 164 declarations in 2021, an increase from the 126 it received in 2020 2107260017, and 272 notices, up from the 187 from 2020.
The Bureau of Industry and Security entered into a settlement agreement with a Nogales, Arizona, business owner after he tried to illegally export about $4,000 worth of items to Mexico, including ballistic helmets and rifle scopes. Under a settlement agreement, Luis Fernando Gracia must conduct an internal audit of his company’s export compliance procedures and complete compliance training or else face the suspension of his export privileges.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated its restricted aircraft list with 25 foreign-produced planes that have violated U.S. export controls. BIS said the commercial planes -- which are the first foreign-produced aircraft added to the list -- violated the Export Administration Regulations’ de minimis threshold for U.S. components by flying into Russia or Belarus. The agency also updated various tail numbers and serial numbers for other listed planes.
The first ship to carry Ukrainian grain exports from the Black Sea left the port of Odessa Aug. 1, the White House said, about five months after Russia invaded Ukraine and halted the country’s agricultural shipments. The successful export was a direct result of an agreement between U.N., Russia, Ukraine and Turkey last month (see 2207250004) to start allowing safe passage of Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control’s recent finding of a violation sent to Midfirst Bank can serve as useful insight into OFAC’s compliance expectations, various firms focusing on compliance said. The enforcement notice, which outlined several mistakes by the bank in its attempt to comply with U.S. sanctions, also represents a warning to companies with insufficient screening processes, the firms said.
The Federal Maritime Commission is making headway on implementing the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 and is preparing two new rules that will further revise or clarify how its regulations apply to carrier and shipping practices.
CBP hopes to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to eventually mandate electronic export manifest (see 2207180041 and 2205060015) by the end of this year, said Jim Swanson, an agency official. The agency has written the regulations for ocean, air and rail manifest but is in the middle of a lengthy government review process before it can publish the NPRM in the Federal Register and officially request public comments, Swanson said.