Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending and reissuing the Belarus Sanctions Regulations, sanctioned a Burmese aviation fuel broker, and updated the SDN List.

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published its first set of guidance materials to aid the public, and in particular the small business community, in understanding upcoming beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements taking effect on January 1, 2024.

Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a rule adding 32 parties in eleven countries to the Unverified List (UVL).   

Comments sought for rule prohibiting CHIPS Act funding from benefiting "countries of concern." To ensure that funding provided through this program does not directly or indirectly benefit foreign countries of concern, the Act includes certain limitations on funding recipients . . .

Evan Broderick Acting Executive Director of the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) program at BIS discussed the OICTS, a rapidly growing enforcement activity that set up shop last March.

“The program started with the 2019 Order 13873. that is the Supply Chain EO as it's commonly referred to. It is essentially said that the secretary of commerce can prohibit or mitigate ICTS transactions: information and communications technology transactions that used data in transferred from and linked to a foreign adversary."

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four entities and three individuals in Iran and Turkey for their involvement in the procurement of equipment, including European-origin engines of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in support of Iran’s UAV and weapons programs.

This month the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released their annual update on international arms transfers. The data revealed that imports of major arms by European states increased by 47 per cent between 2013–17 and 2018–22, while the global level of international arms transfers decreased by 5.1 per cent. Arms imports fell overall in Africa (–40 per cent), the Americas (–21 per cent), Asia and Oceania (–7.5 per cent) and the Middle East (–8.8 per cent)—but imports to East Asia and certain states in other areas of high geopolitical tension rose sharply.

Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service released a notice of proposed rulemaking for the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit (CHIPS ITC) established by the CHIPS Act of 2022.

“By providing detailed eligibility guidance for this tax credit, we’re equipping taxpayers with the clarity and certainty they need to make investments that will increase semiconductor manufacturing and strengthen America’s semiconductor supply chain,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. 

Commerce released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the guardrails intended to ensure technology and innovation funded by the CHIPS and Science Act is not used for malign purposes by adversaries.

The oil price cap sanctions on Russia are proving an unqualified success, according to a senior Treasury official.  Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute,  Ben Harris, assistant secretary for economic policy and chief economist at the Treasury Department discussed the price regime’s effectiveness to date.

The Automated Export System has been modified to report shipments governed by last Fall's Certain Advanced Computing and Semiconductor Manufacturing Items; Supercomputer and Semiconductor End Use Rules.

In a presentation the CBPs Forced Labor Expo in Wednesday, Dr. Laura Murphy of Sheffield Hallam University (UK) made an impassioned plea for industry to know their supply chain.  

A Pennsylvania coal miner formerly controlled by Texas buyout firm Quintana Capital has been given a pass on prosecution for FCPA violations involving $143 million in coal sales to Egypt in exchange for a $1.2 million payment to the Department of Justice Fraud Division.

The Treasury Department  is designating a network of five companies and one individual for supporting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) procurement efforts.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee leaders are proposing the creation of a permanent US mission for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help counter China’s influence in the region.

The White House immediately endorsed a bipartisan Senate bill introduced Thusday to prevent national security risks posed by technology services from companies like China’s TikTok, which is increasingly being banned from government smartphones.

Following through on their commitment to “work collectively on further measures on Russian diamonds,” made after last month’s G-7 Summit, US and European Commission officials met …

Two leading senators are calling on the Administration to press the European Union on the discriminatory aspects of EU digital regulations that they say target a handful of US companies.

President Biden’s $6.9 trillion fiscal year 2024 budget request puts an emphasis throughout on out-competing China by increasing investments in domestic manufacturing and infrastructure, while maintaining a strong US presence in the Asia Pacific.

“China is the United States’ only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it,” according to the President’s introduction to his budget.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence  released the 2023 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The report highlights the vulnerabilities of supply chains and cyber infrastructure to adversaries, as well as some under appreciated environmental, demographic and domestic political threats.