The Biden administration needs to more quickly impose powerful, multilateral sanctions against Russia for threatening further military actions in Ukraine, security experts said. But coordinated sanctions with Europe could be challenging, the experts said, and may not deter Russia if the restrictions are enacted too late.
The Commerce Department published its fall 2021 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including a new mention of an export control rule for crime-control items and a rule that would reorganize provisions of the foreign direct product rule in federal regulations.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach again postponed a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers, the two ports announced Dec. 20. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15, but have postponed it several times (see 2111030027 and 2110280031). The latest extension delays the effective date to Dec. 27.
New U.S. and European sanctions against Belarus could have broad implications for companies doing business in the region and could signal more multilateral sanctions in the coming months, law firms said this month. The U.S.’s recent restrictions are particularly noteworthy because of a strict new prohibition on certain transactions involving Belarusian sovereign debt, the firms said.
The U.S. secretaries of transportation and agriculture urged ocean carriers to stop prioritizing imports and leaving the U.S. with empty containers, which has contributed to port congestion and delays, especially on the West Coast. In a Dec. 17 letter to more than 10 of the world’s leading ocean carriers, the agency leaders said carriers should “restore reciprocal treatment of imports and exports” or face potential penalties.
The Commerce Department should immediately expand an exemption to allow U.S. companies to participate in standards-setting bodies that have members designated on the Entity List, industry representatives said. U.S. firms said they have been forced to avoid the bodies because they fear running afoul of U.S. export laws, a practice that could result in the U.S. losing important influence over the future of emerging technology standards.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added eight Chinese technology firms to its investment blacklist, including drone maker DJI, for helping the Chinese government track and detain Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The move, announced Dec. 16, also banned investments in Cloudwalk Technology Co., Dawning Information Industry Co., Leon Technology Company, Megvii Technology, Netposa Technologies, Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co. and Yitu, all of which are already on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 37 entities to the Entity List, including 34 Chinese research institutes and technology companies, for supporting China’s military modernization efforts or Iran’s weapons program. Other entities added to the list, located in Georgia, Malaysia and Turkey, supplied U.S.-origin items to Iranian defense industries, BIS said.
The U.S. announced a new effort this week to modernize and expand U.S. sanctions authorities against transnational criminal groups, including drug traffickers and their enablers. The initiative, outlined in a Dec. 15 executive order, will build on existing U.S. authorities under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by allowing Treasury to more efficiently sanction groups that traffic synthetic opioids and precursor chemicals, a senior administration official said. “The new EO will give Treasury greater flexibility, speed and power to sanction those within the global drug trade,” the official told reporters Dec. 15.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a proposed rule that would create a formal license amendment process, which could allow applicants to revise certain license information rather than start over with a replacement application, said Tim Mooney, an official in BIS’s regulatory policy division. BIS drafted a version of the proposed rule toward the end of the Obama administration, Mooney said, but the idea was nixed after some interagency disagreements about the rule’s scope.