The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week fined a Hong Kong company more than $5.2 million after it illegally bought more than 64,000 tons of Iranian thermoplastic, the largest fine by OFAC in more than a year. The agency said Sojitz illegally bought the Iranian “high density polyethylene resin” from a Thai supplier to sell to Chinese consumers. OFAC determined the case to be non-egregious, partly because senior compliance officials weren’t aware of the illegal purchases and had repeatedly told its employees that they could not buy Iranian goods with U.S. dollars.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced Jan. 10. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15, but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until Jan. 17.
Lawmakers are expected to vote this week on a bill from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would sanction companies associated with the Russia-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline to punish Russia for threatening to further invade Ukraine. But an alternative bill from Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., could instead impose a host of broad economic penalties against Russia’s banking sector and various government officials.
The Bureau of Industry and Security delayed the effective date of its new export controls over certain cybersecurity items (see 2110200036) after receiving requests from industry, the agency said in a notice released Jan. 11. The controls, which were scheduled to take effect Jan. 19, were delayed for 45 days and will now take effect March 7.
If not properly tailored, export controls on brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies could stifle U.S. competitiveness and slow academic research, tech companies and universities told the Bureau of Industry and Security in comments released this month. While some commenters said certain narrow, multilateral controls may be feasible, others said BIS should avoid controls altogether to avoid impeding U.S. innovation.
China is likely to increase its use of economic and trade restrictions, specifically export controls, to penalize U.S. and EU companies that act against its interests, two security and economics experts said. While China hasn’t “extensively” used its newly established export control or sanctions regimes, its recently issued export control white paper and other rhetoric suggest it won't hesitate to soon use those powers more broadly, the experts said.
The Census Bureau’s proposal to add a new country of origin data element in the Automated Export System (see 2112140033) could place a significant burden on some U.S. exporters, said Ted Murphy, a trade lawyer with Sidley Austin. Murphy said he expects businesses and at least one trade association to push back on the rule in comments due next month. “I can't imagine anyone who's going to write in favor of this proposal,” Murphy said in an interview.
Australia and Canada have met certain investment screening requirements and will remain eligible for the Treasury Department’s foreign excepted state provision, the agency said Jan. 5. Treasury also extended for one year the deadline by which certain U.S. allies must prove that they have a robust foreign investment screening process, which will allow those countries to also qualify for the exemption.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed its temporary export control on certain artificial intelligence software as it prepares to make the classification permanent, BIS said in a notice. The temporary control -- first issued in January 2020 (see 2001030024), extended last year (see 2101050018) and renewed for a second time this week -- placed unilateral restrictions on geospatial imagery software by adding it to the 0Y521 Temporary Export Control Classification Numbers Series. The latest one-year renewal is effective Jan. 6.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced Jan. 3. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15, but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until Jan. 10, when the situation will be reassessed.