On December 16, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated eight Chinese tech companies to the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies (“NS-CMIC”) list pursuant to Executive Order 13959, as amended by Executive Order 14032, for their alleged involvement in supporting surveillance of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang, China. On the next day, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) also added 37 new parties to the BIS Entity List, including 25 Chinese companies for their alleged involvement in efforts to develop and use biotechnology and other technologies for military application and human rights abuses. These sanctions are part of an increase in US Government efforts to prevent alleged human rights abuses.

On November 3, 2021, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule adding the following four entities to the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List: Candiru (Israel), NSO Group (Israel), Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE (Singapore), and Positive Technologies (Russia). The addition of the four entities comes after the October 21, 2021 publication of an interim rule by BIS establishing controls on the export, re-export, and in-country transfers of items that may be used for malicious cyber activities and is part of the ongoing effort by the Biden-Harris Administration to combat the use of digital tools for repression.

On July 19, 2021, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published a final rule (“Final Rule”) adding six Russian organizations to the Entity List. These designations are related to Executive Order 14024, “Blocking Property With Respect To Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian” (“EO 14024”) that was signed by President Biden in April 2021.

On June 8, 2021, the White House published a set of reports on the 100-day interagency reviews (“Reports”) conducted pursuant to Executive Order 14017 (“Supply Chain EO”), which assessed supply chain risks and vulnerabilities for several supply chains, including those relating to semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging, and made policy recommendations to address those risks.

On March 2, 2021, the US Government imposed a series of new measures against Russian Government officials and entities in response to the alleged poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of Russian opposition politician Aleksey Navalny.  Specifically, the US State Department (State) imposed a number of financial sanctions and export restrictions on…

On January 15, 2021, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published an interim final rule (“Rule”) amending various provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to implement certain provisions of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (“ECRA”).  Among other things further outlined below, the Rule imposes new restrictions on…

On December 17, 2020, the US Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a “Prohibition Order Securing Critical Defense Facilities“ (the “Prohibition Order”) pursuant to authority granted to the Secretary of Energy by Executive Order 13920 (the “BPS EO“).  As of January 16, 2021, the Prohibition Order prohibits certain electric utilities that…

On December 17, 2020, the US Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a “Prohibition Order Securing Critical Defense Facilities“ (the “Prohibition Order”) pursuant to authority granted to the Secretary of Energy by Executive Order 13920 (the “BPS EO“).  As of January 16, 2021, the Prohibition Order prohibits certain electric utilities that…

On December 14, 2020, the US Government announced Sudan’s removal from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (the “SST List”).  This rescission of Sudan as an SST follows an agreement in October for Sudan to be removed from the list and the lapse of a 45 day congressional notification period. The federal…

On November 17, 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) amended General License (“GL”) 8F and re-issued it as General License 8G.  GL 8G extends the validity period of certain limited maintenance and wind-down transactions and activities involving Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (“PdVSA”) until June 3,…