The U.S. plans to increase sanctions on Iran by targeting certain foreign entities doing business with the country, potentially creating more compliance issues for American companies, according to Steven Brotherton, principal at KPMG. Speaking at a KPMG export controls information event, Brotherton said he was told in a recent meeting with an official from the Department of State’s Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions sector that the U.S. administration will be doing “a number of things to really ratchet up the sanctions on Iran.”

Failure to provide the Canada Border Services Agency with proof of origin upon request, corrections to origin declarations, or reports of diverted goods are among customs compliance violations that will face steeper penalties starting in April, the CBSA said in a March 5 notice. The CBSA previously said it planned to increase the Administrative Monetary Penalties for trade compliance violations (see 1903040034), but had not provided details on the changes.

A House bill that would require the U.S. government to ban all U.S. exports to any company that violates export controls or sanctions has appeal on both the right and left, said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., in a recent interview. The bill, H.R. 602, which so far only has Reps. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., as co-sponsors, is a companion bill to a Senate effort led by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ariz.

The Canada Border Services Agency will go forward with an increase to Administrative Monetary Penalties for trade compliance violations, CBSA said in a March 1 message. "Effective April 1, 2019, the CBSA will increase a number of AMPs related to commercial trade," CBSA said. "Increases will bring penalty levels in line with other non-trade commercial penalties. These increases affect non-compliant importers only."