The Bureau of Industry and Security is expanding its export controls to make more items subject to license requirements under its Iran foreign direct product rule, increasing its Iran-related restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations. The final rule, which was released July 24 but took effect July 23, implements certain provisions in the wide-ranging national security bill President Joe Biden signed into law in April (see 2404240043).

The EU is considering entities to be subject to sanctions if they are owned 50% or more by another sanctioned entity or party, a move that aligns the bloc with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control’s 50% rule. The announcement is a change from the EU’s previous position on the ownership test threshold, which had previously extended asset freezes to entities only if they were owned more than 50% by a sanctioned party, a law firm said this week.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. saw a spike in enforcement activity in 2023, fining four parties for breaching mitigation agreements and investigating several others for failing to comply with CFIUS mandatory filing requirements, the committee said in an annual report released July 23.

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The Office of Foreign Assets Control plans to extend its sanctions-related recordkeeping requirements to match a similar expansion of the U.S. statute of limitations for sanctions violations that was signed into law earlier this year (see 2404290071).

The Federal Maritime Commission this week released its final rule on unreasonable carrier conduct, the last step in the FMC’s nearly two-year campaign of crafting regulations to address ocean carriers that unfairly refuse vessel or cargo space to shippers.

European officials last week called for more EU-U.S. cooperation on China policy, particularly around trade restrictions, to respond to Beijing’s unfair market practices and deter its military.

Although some industries may initially have an easier time complying with the EU’s new anti-deforestation rules when they take effect at the start of next year, others may face a learning curve trying to ramp up their due diligence efforts, supply chain sustainability lawyers and advisers said this week. They also warned that EU companies that trade in large volumes of goods subject to the new law likely won’t be able to comply using only a manual due diligence process.

The U.S. is trying to convince more of its allies to increase export controls on advanced semiconductors and chip making equipment destined to China, but some haven’t committed, in part because they’re worried about possible trade retaliation from Beijing, said Alan Estevez, undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is revising its regulations so that export controls don’t “impede or jeopardize” U.S. participation in international standards-setting bodies and other standards-related activities (see 2406180014), the agency said in an interim final rule released July 17.