The announcements were published published on June 19, 2012 in the Federal Register and is part of the Obama Administration’s ongoing effort to reform the U.S. export control laws and regulations. The State Department proposed rule is available for review here, while the Department of Commerce proposed rule is available here. Public Comments are due by August 3, 2012.
U.S. Publishes Proposed Rule on Export Controlled Items
The United States Munitions List (USML) is a list of articles, services and related technical data that are designated as defense articles and defense services pursuant to sections 38 and 47(7) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778 and 2794(7)). The USML is administered by the Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC). The Commerce Control List (CCL) in Supplement No. 1 to Part 774 of the Export Administration Regulations
(EAR) contains a list that describes items (i.e., commodities, software, and technology) subject to the jurisdiction of the EAR. The EAR are administered by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
You can read the State Department Federal Register notice here and the Commerce Department notice here. For a very general overview of U.S. Trade Security laws and regulations, follow this link. Both agencies will be accepting comments on the proposed rule until July 23, 2012.
U.S. Senate Approves Stronger Iran Sanctions
The principal co-sponsors of the Senate bill, Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) issued statements late yesterday evening:
“Today the Senate sent a clear message to Iran as it prepares for the P-5+1 talks in Baghdad: Provide a real and verifiable plan for the complete dismantling of your nuclear weapons program, or Washington will further tighten the economic noose … The Obama Administration is moving toward full implementation of the Menendez-Kirk Central Bank sanctions and the U.S. Congress is ready with additional measures,” Sen. Menendez said.
“Today the U.S. Senate put Iranian leaders on notice that they must halt all uranium enrichment activities or face another round of economic sanctions from the United States,” Senator Kirk said. “I thank Leader McConnell and Senator Menendez for their support in moving this important legislation forward, and I appreciate Leader Reid and Chairman Johnson’s commitment to negotiate even tougher sanctions in conference,” Sen. Kirk said.
Other measures include new sanctions with respect to joint ventures with the Government of Iran relating to mining, production, or transportation of uranium as well as new liability of parent companies for violations of sanctions by foreign subsidiaries. There are also new disclosure requirements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to sanctionable activities.
The bill will allow for the attachment frozen assets of Iran to pay judgments for Iranian acts of terror against American citizens, including the victims of the Marine Corps Barracks bombing in Lebanon in 1983 and the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996.
The complete text of the Senate bill (S 2101) is available here (PDF). The House measure (HR 1905) is available here (PDF).
New GAO Report: Management Enhancements Needed to Improve Efforts to Detect and Deter Customs Duty Evasion
The United States imposes AD/CV duties to remedy unfair foreign trade practices, such as unfairly low prices or subsidies that cause injury to domestic industries. Importers that seek to avoid paying appropriate AD/CV duties may employ methods of evasion such as illegally transshipping an import through a third country to disguise its true country of origin or falsifying the value of an import to reduce the amount of duties owed, among others. AD/CV duty evasion can harm U.S. companies and reduces U.S. revenues. CBP, within the Department of Homeland Security, leads efforts to detect and deter AD/CV duty evasion.
The Senators aske the GAO to examine “(1) how CBP detects and deters AD/CV duty evasion, (2) factors that affect CBP’s efforts, and (3) the extent to which CBP tracks and reports on its efforts. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed CBP data and documents; met with government and private sector representatives in Washington, D.C.; and conducted fieldwork at three domestic ports.”
You can read the entire report at the GAO website.