The U.S. announced sanctions on Turkey for buying Russian missile defense systems, saying Dec. 14 the purchases provide “substantial funds” to Russia’s defense sector and harm U.S. national security. The sanctions target Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) and several SSB officials, including SSB President Ismail Demir, Vice President Faruk Yigit, and air defense officials Serhat Gencoglu and Mustafa Alper Deniz.
The European Union expects to publish a range of export control guidelines in 2021 and will likely use the year to decide whether it will restrict exports of certain facial recognition technologies, EU officials said. Those guidelines and decisions will be released as part of the EU’s new dual-use export control regime (see 2011100021), which officials expect to take effect this coming summer.
The U.S. and the European Union will hold export control discussions this week to share information on emerging technology restrictions and countries and companies of concern, according to the European Commission and the U.S. Commerce Department. The discussions, scheduled for Dec. 15 and 16, will include senior officials from Commerce and the State Department and high-level trade officers from the commission and EU member states, a commission spokesperson said in a Dec. 14 email. Others participating include export control and technology experts from EU member states, a representative from the German presidency of the Council of the EU and the commission’s chief trade enforcement officer.
The European Union is bracing for a large workload and host of new “responsibilities” as it prepares to implement its new dual-use export control regime, said Denis Redonnet, the European Commission’s chief trade enforcement officer. Redonnet said the regime will “test” EU agencies and governments and will only succeed with cooperation from industry experts.
The State Department is extending two International Traffic in Arms Regulations measures to allow employees involved in certain ITAR-related activities to work remotely (see 2004240017) as the agency seeks to make the changes permanent, a notice released Dec. 10 said. The notice continues a temporary exception to the ITAR to allow employees to telework, including employees working remotely in a country “not currently authorized” by a technical assistance agreement, manufacturing license agreement or an exemption. The exceptions do not apply to employees working in certain blocked countries, including Russia.
The Census Bureau needs more time to assess the comments it received on whether to eliminate certain export filings for shipments to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, partly because the comments were so split (see 2012040033), said Kiesha Downs, chief of Census’ Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch. She also said the comments didn’t help the agency find alternative sources to collect the data that is normally submitted through the Electronic Export Information filings.
The State Department is circulating a proposed rule that would permanently revise the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to allow employees involved in ITAR-related activities to work remotely. To make the change, the rule would update the definition of a “regular employee” in ITAR, which would allow for greater flexibility for industry workers who telework, a State Department official said in a Dec. 9 email. The proposed rule was sent for interagency review last week (see 2012080011).
The Commerce Department will not publish its long-awaited proposed regulations on routed export transactions (see 2007150044) this year and is experiencing delays on other rules, including another set of export controls from the 2019 Wassenaar Arrangement, a Commerce official said. Hillary Hess, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s regulatory policy director, cited a combination of internal BIS delays and a backlog at the Federal Register for the slowdown.
The Council of the European Union adopted its long-awaited human rights sanctions regime (see 2010210008), giving the EU the ability to designate people and entities that commit crimes against humanity or other “serious human rights violations,” the EU said Dec. 7. The regime will allow the EU to impose travel bans and asset freezes on violators and will block people and entities in the EU from “making funds available” to entries on the sanctions list, either “directly or indirectly,” the EU said.
The U.S. sanctioned 14 officials on China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee associated with Hong Kong’s so-called national security law, the latest escalation in a series of U.S. designations aimed at Beijing. The sanctions target various NPCSC vice chairpersons who were involved in “developing, adopting, or implementing” the law, which has allowed Beijing to “stifle dissent” and arrest pro-democracy advocates, the State Department said Dec. 7.