Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

New Zealand's 33rd sanctions round under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022 designated 65 "shadow fleet" tanker vessels involved in transporting Russian-origin crude oil, together with seven entities and two individuals based in Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Iran that refine or transport Russian oil or facilitate oil-related payments. Designated parties are subject to asset freezes and prohibitions on the supply of services (including port access, insurance, chartering and cargo handling) by New Zealand persons. The measure targets the revenue chain funding Russia's war in Ukraine rather than imposing a new tariff or trade-flow control.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Burma-based arms procurement company Royal Shune Lei Company Limited, its three Burmese executives, and two North Korean nationals linked to the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID) for operating an arms-trafficking and revenue-generation network supporting DPRK weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. Royal Shune Lei brokered sales of aerial bomb guidance kits, bombs, and airborne monitoring equipment to Burma's military junta on behalf of KOMID starting in 2022. Designations were made under Executive Order 13687 (DPRK), Executive Order 13551 (DPRK arms trade), and Executive Order 14014 (Burma), blocking all US-jurisdiction property of the six designated parties and barring US persons from transactions with them.

New Zealand's 32nd sanctions round under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022 (Russia Sanctions Amendment Regulations (No 4) 2025, SL 2025/195) lowered the price cap on Russian-origin crude oil (HS 2709) from US$60/bbl to US$47.60/bbl, a roughly 21% cut, aligning New Zealand with the EU, UK and Canada's most recent price-cap reductions. The same instrument designated 19 individuals and entities plus 19 vessels, including Russia's GRU cyber unit 29155 (implicated in malware attacks on Ukrainian government networks), actors involved in chemical-weapons use and disinformation, additional "shadow fleet" tankers, alternative payment providers, and third-country facilitators based in North Korea and Iran supporting Russia's war effort.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated a Russian national (Vitaliy Sergeyevich Andreyev), a Russia-based DPRK economic and trade consular official (Kim Ung Sun), a Chinese front company (Shenyang Geumpungri Network Technology Co., Ltd), and a DPRK trading company subordinate to the DPRK Ministry of People's Armed Forces General Political Bureau (Korea Sinjin Trading Corporation) for facilitating a fraudulent overseas IT-worker scheme that funds North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. The action expands on the prior designation of Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, an entity tied to the DPRK defense ministry that deploys IT worker delegations in Russia and Laos. Treasury said Andreyev and Kim Ung Sun facilitated cryptocurrency-to-cash conversions worth nearly USD 600,000 since December 2024, and that Shenyang Geumpungri's delegation of DPRK IT workers has earned Chinyong and Sinjin over USD 1 million in profits since 2021. Designations were made under Executive Order 13687, blocking all US-jurisdiction property of the four parties and barring US persons from transactions with them.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company (also known as Sobaeksu United Corporation) and three associated individuals — Kim Se Un, Jo Kyong Hun, and Myong Chol Min — for evading US and UN sanctions and clandestinely generating revenue for the DPRK government, including through fraudulent information-technology worker schemes. Sobaeksu operates as a front company for the US-designated Munitions Industry Department, which oversees North Korea's nuclear program and ballistic-missile development. The action was coordinated with a Department of Justice unsealing of indictments against seven DPRK nationals over counterfeit- cigarette sanctions evasion, and State Department reward offers of up to USD 7 million for information on the individuals involved. Designations block all US-jurisdiction property of the four parties and bar US persons from transacting with them.

New Zealand's Russia Sanctions Amendment Regulations (No 3) 2025, made under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022, came into force on 19 June 2025 designating seven entities and ten individuals -- including North Korean, Iranian and Belarusian actors supporting Russia's war effort and Russian actors involved in drone and weaponry production. The same instrument created a new "restricted ship" category under Regulation 8 and sanctioned 27 vessels in Russia's shadow fleet under it, and expanded the Regulation 12 legal-services exception. Designated parties are subject to asset freezes and prohibitions on New Zealand persons supplying services to them.

OFAC amended § 510.512 of the North Korea Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 510) to broaden the scope of authorized humanitarian activities for NGOs operating in North Korea, including permitting transactions with certain Government of North Korea entities where necessary to deliver authorized services. Three new general licenses were added: one for exports and re-exports of items licensed by the Commerce Department; one for agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices; and one for journalistic activities in North Korea. NGOs relying on the authorization must notify the State Department at least 30 days before commencing activity.