On December 15, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) added 18 entities in Russia’s financial services sector to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). The US State Department concurrently designated Vladimir Potanin, one of the richest men in Russia.
OFAC designated Public Joint Stock Company Rosbank (“Rosbank”), a bank
BIS Adds 24 New Entities and Removes One from Entity List
On December 8, 2022, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a notice in the Federal Register adding 24 entities under 26 entries and removing one entity from the Entity List. The entities are from Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland
On November 1, 2022, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) released the questionnaire it is requesting interested parties to submit for its consideration related to the economic impact of the Section 301 tariffs. The portal to submit responses to the questionnaire will open on November 15, 2022, and will remain open until January 17, 2023.
On June 28, 2022, the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a Joint Alert urging financial institutions to be vigilant against efforts by individuals or entities to evade BIS export controls implemented in connection with the Russian Federation’s further invasion of Ukraine. After providing an overview of recent BIS actions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Joint Alert identifies commodities that present “special concern because of their potential diversion to and end use by Russia and Belarus to further their military and defense capabilities,” all of which require a BIS license prior to export or reexport to Russia and Belarus.
On June 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) updated the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to: (i) add 71 entities to the Entity List “for acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of Russia’s military”; (ii) issue minor revisions, corrections, and clarifications to its Russia and Belarus export controls; and (iii) increase its administrative disclosure authorities to allow the publication of charging letters prior to a resolution of an administrative case. The changes went into effect immediately on June 2, 2022 and were published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2022 via two Final Rules available (here) and (here).
Matthew Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”), told a conference held by the Society for International Affairs on May 16, 2022, that his agency is considering major policy changes to its administrative enforcement authorities. Axelrod said the policy changes, expected to be rolled out in the next few months, are intended to incentivize export compliance by corporations under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).
On March 30, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) modified and expanded a list of aircraft that have flown into Russia in apparent violation of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). We more thoroughly discussed the implications of this list – which was first published on March 18, 2022 – in our blog post here. The updated list adds 73 additional Boeing-manufactured aircraft and modifies tail and/or serial number information for 13 aircraft previously listed on March 18, 2022. The full list of owners/operators include Aeroflot, AirBridge Cargo, Aviastar-TU, Alrosa, Atran, Azur Air, Nordstar, Nordwind, Pegas Fly, Pobeda, Rossiya, Royal Flight, S7 Airlines, and Utair (FC Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s private Gulfstream jet is also on the list).
On March 22, 2022, the United States and the United Kingdom announced in a joint statement that the U.S. will halt Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the U.K, effective June 1, 2022, and that the U.K. will also lift retaliatory tariffs on over $500 million worth of U.S. exports to the U.K. The Section 232 tariffs were instituted in March 2018 on all imports of steel and aluminum from multiple countries.
On Friday, March 11, 2022, the White House issued Executive Order (“EO”) 14068 announcing more sanctions and export controls against the Russian Federation (“Russia”). Concurrent with that announcement, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) released new export controls restricting the flow of “luxury goods” to Russia, Belarus, and Russian/Belarusian “oligarchs and malign actors” while the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued dozens of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) designations and published four (4) new general licenses.
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In episode 2, Husch Blackwell’s Gregg Sofer and Scott Glabe discuss implications of the United States’ broad and hastily enforced sanctions on Russia with