Processing of most export license applications, as well as sanctions licenses, will pause during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1, although export enforcement operations and national security-related investigations will continue, the Commerce, State and Treasury departments said this week.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Bureau of Industry and Security's new 50% rule only applies to ownership, not the “control” that a parent company may have over an affiliate, the agency said in new FAQs. Other FAQs stress that the government’s Consolidated Screening List is no longer exhaustive, clarify how license exceptions may apply to unlisted affiliates, explain how BIS will determine whether a U.S. exporter has “knowledge” that a listed entity owns part of a non-listed foreign affiliate, and more.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed a general license that authorizes payments of certain taxes, fees, import duties, licenses, certifications and other similar transactions involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation that would normally be blocked under Directive 4 of Executive Order 14024. General License 13O, which replaces 13N, authorizes those transactions through 12:01 a.m. ET Jan. 9., as long as they're “ordinarily incident and necessary to the day-to-day operations in the Russian Federation of such U.S. persons or entities.” The license was scheduled to expire Oct. 9.

A new interim final rule released by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week introduces a 50% ownership threshold rule for the Entity List and Military End-User List, a change that’s expected to drastically increase the number of companies subject to stringent export licensing restrictions. BIS also is adopting the rule, which it calls the “Affiliates rule,” for export transactions involving certain parties sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which BIS said will “align more closely” OFAC’s 50% rule with the new restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has drafted and is preparing to soon publish an interim final rule that will introduce a 50% rule for parties on the Entity List and Military End-User List, according to a copy of the rule seen by Export Compliance Daily. The rule would impose the same export license requirements as the parent company for any affiliate owned 50% or more by an entity on those two lists, and it includes a 60-day temporary general license to authorize certain transactions with some non-listed entities before the new restrictions apply.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned five people and one entity for helping North Korea's government generate revenue for its weapons and missile programs, including through weapons sales to the Myanmar military.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Indian nationals Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed and Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh for working with narcotics traffickers to supply "hundreds of thousands" of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and other illegal drugs to people in the U.S. OFAC also sanctioned Shaikh's company, KS International Traders, which the agency said is a "purported online pharmacy used in furtherance of Shaikh’s criminal activities." Both Shaikh and Sayyed were indicted on narcotics-related charges by DOJ last year.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a final rule this week to officially change the heading of the Syria-Related Sanctions Regulations to the "Promoting Accountability for Assad and Regional Stabilization Sanctions Regulations." It also revises those regulations to reflect the administration's easing of certain Syria-related sanctions earlier this year (see 2507010012 and 2506300055). The changes take effect Sept. 25.

The State Department labeled Barrio 18, a Latin American rival gang to MS-13, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and Foreign Terrorist Organization, the agency said in notices released Sept. 23. The Office of Foreign Assets Control added Barrio 18 to its Specially Designated Nationals List to reflect the move.