You are reading the June 2023 Update of the Bass, Berry & Sims Enforcement Roundup, where we bring notable enforcement actions, policy changes, interesting news articles, and a bit of our insight to your inbox.
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- June saw two noteworthy Russia-related enforcement actions. First, a former U.S. service member was sentenced to prison for exporting defense articles to Russia without the required license. Second, a Swedbank AB subsidiary agreed to pay more than $3 million to resolve almost 400 apparent violations of U.S. sanctions related to Russian-occupied Crimea.
- There were also a few China-related actions. June marked the one-year anniversary of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) going into effect, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made its first addition to the UFLPA entity list. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) also added several entities to its Entity List for strengthening Chinese military capabilities.
- In addition, a Maryland man pled guilty to illegally exporting firearms to Ghana and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Also, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated its first entities under EO 14098, which allows the agency to designate entities and persons in Sudan connected to the armed conflict in that country.
- June also saw a multilateral agreement between Five Eyes partners to improve information sharing to close gaps in export control enforcement and increase administration capacity. Additionally, the Departments of Justice, Commerce, State and Treasuryissued a joint advisory to alert private industry of their obligations related to export control laws in the UAV sector.