Day: December 19, 2020

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has published this Background Paper saying that post-shipment on-site inspections of exported military materiel enable an exporting country to verify that the materiel is still present in the country of destination and in the possession of the authorized end user.  An increasing number of European countries are conducting on-site inspections, or are considering or planning to adopt such measures.  A wide range of multilateral organisations already include the implementation of on-site inspections as part of their guidance documents.  This Paper provides an overview of the current state of implementation as regards on-site inspections of exported military materiel by different European countries.  It highlights common sensitive issues related to the implementation of on-site inspections, maps the on-site inspection policies and practices of a selection of European countries, and provides recommendations for how the EU could play a role in promoting such practices.

https://sipri.org/sites/default/files/2020-12/bp_2012_post-shipment_controls.pdf

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An article on 18 December from OCCRP says that thousands of protected trees that have been illegally cut down on land leased as “settlement farms” to political elites and war veterans by Namibia’s ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party.  A forestry expert described the stockpiles, all run by 2 Chinese-fronted companies, as evidence of “industrial wood mining”.  Despite a moratorium on harvesting these prized hardwoods in Namibia since November 2018, and a ban on trading raw timber since early August, the plunder has continued.

https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/chinese-companies-and-namibian-elites-make-millions-illegally-logging-the-last-rosewoods

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On 18 December. Simmons & Simmons has published a tracker which reviews UK action by prosecution authorities over corruption offences.  It reminds one that there are a number of authorities who are charged with the investigation and prosecution of corruption offences in the UK.  These include the CPS, SFO, FCA, NCA and Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (aka the Crown Office).  It says that while there has been a considerable amount of corruption enforcement activity in recent years, only a limited number of prosecutions have been brought under the Bribery Act 2010; and perception of the effectiveness of the legislation varies greatly. 

https://assets.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt3de4d56151f717f2/bltb08e5024fa3056bf/5fdc9d64396e65084a9e5bb1/2020.12.18_Corruption_enforcement_tracker45351887v12.pdf

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On 19 December, Eyewitness News reported that the Bahamas has officially been removed from the FATF grey list of nations deemed to have deficiencies in their anti-financial crime defences. 

https://ewnews.com/bahamas-delisted-from-fatf-grey-list

http://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/high-risk-and-other-monitored-jurisdictions/documents/bahamas-delisting-2020.html

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On 18 December, the US Department of Commerce announced that Chinese company Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has been added to the Entity List.  The Entity List designation limits SMIC’s ability to acquire certain US technology by requiring US exporters to apply for a license to sell to the company.   Items uniquely required to produce semiconductors at advanced technology nodes — 10 nanometers or below — will be subject to a presumption of denial to prevent such key enabling technology from supporting China’s military-civil fusion efforts.  The Department also added more than 60 other entities to the Entity List for actions deemed contrary to the national security or foreign policy interest of the US.   These include entities in China that enable human rights abuses, entities that supported the militarization and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea, entities that acquired US-origin items in support of the People’s Liberation Army’s programs, and entities and persons that engaged in the theft of US trade secrets.

https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2020/12/commerce-adds-chinas-smic-entity-list-restricting-access-key-enabling

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/18/china-smic-entity-list-ban/

The Entity List can be found at –

https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/lists-of-parties-of-concern/entity-list

Click to access wp20-16.pdf

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