On January 16, 2025, the US Commerce Departmentâs Bureau of Industry and Security (âBISâ) published an interim final rule (the “IFR”) revising the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to impose new controls on certain biotechnology equipment and related technology. As stated in the IFR, the new controls are necessary to protect against US national security and foreign policy interests “given the dual-use nature and relevance of specific biotechnology equipment to contribute to the research and development…
On January 2, 2025, the US Commerce Departmentâs Bureau of Industry and Security (âBISâ) published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANPRM”) seeking public comments to inform the potential development of a rule to safeguard the information and communications technology and services (“ICTS”) supply chain for unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”), pursuant to the authority of Executive Order 13873. This follows other recent developments in the ICTS regime, including the December 6, 2024 Final Rule amending…
On November 21, 2024, the US Department of the Treasuryâs Office of Foreign Assets Control (âOFACâ) designated dozens of Russian banks, including Gazprombank and other Russian banks, securities registrars, and finance officials, to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (âSDN Listâ). The full SDN designation of Gazprombank, the largest remaining Russian bank, is particularly notable given its role in supporting gas flows between Russia and remaining European and other customers. On the…
On 24 September 2024, the G7 Sub-Working Group on Export Control Enforcement, which comprises representatives from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (the âG7â), published the first-ever joint guidance for industry on preventing evasion of export control and sanctions imposed on Russia (âJoint Guidanceâ). The stated goal of the Joint Guidance is to assist industry in identifying Russiaâs evolving evasion tactics and in complying with multilateral…