Monday, March 15th:
- This week started with the addition of six individuals pursuant to the Syria regime of the UK to the UK Sanctions Lists. The new targets were all members of the Syrian regime. (Here) (Press release)
- OFSI also amended two entries related to its Iran Nuclear regime. Interestingly, one of the two amendments was for Qasem Soleimani's entry. He was killed in a targeted American drone strike on 3 January 2020 in Baghdad. (Here)
- France added ten names under its unilateral sanctions while delisting five. If you want to know more about France's unilateral sanctions, you can check out this article.
- OFAC announced a settlement with UniControl Inc., a U.S. company whose European trade partners reexported its products to Iran. UniControl had actual knowledge that its products were ending up in Iran and it only stopped shipping goods to its European trade partners after 19 shipments.(Here)
Tuesday, March 16th: - France published a new version of its asset freeze list. You can search the new list on the web and you can click on each entry to get more information about the entry in question. (Here)
- Violations of OFAC-administered regulations could be expensive already and now they just got more expensive. OFAC amended its maximum for Civil Monetary Penalties to cover the inflation. (Here)
- Departments of Justice and Homeland Security released information about their report pursuant to section 1(b) of Executive Order 13848. The statement, in relevant part, reads "[a]lthough the 1(b) report notes that Russian, Chinese, and Iranian government-affiliated actors materially impacted the security of certain networks during the 2020 federal elections, the Departments found no evidence that any foreign government-affiliated actor manipulated election results or otherwise compromised the integrity of the 2020 federal elections." (Here) So, we might get some more designations under Foreign Interference in a U.S. Election program following this report.
Wednesday, March 17th
- In another round of sanctions against People's Republic of China by the United States, the Department of State identified 24 individuals pursuant to section 5(a) of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. (Here) Following the identification of these 24 individuals by the State Department, the U.S. Treasury added those names to its SDN list pursuant to section 6(1) of the Act. (Here)
- Do you remember that the U.S. Secretary of State made a determination that the Government of the Russian Federation has used a chemical weapon against its own nationals, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention? Well, here is one of the results of that determination. The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) tightened up restrictions against Russia by reviewing license applications under a presumption of denial for exports and reexports of items controlled for national security reasons (NS items) that are destined for Russia. BIS will also suspend License Exceptions Servicing and Replacement Parts and Equipment (RPL), Technology and Software Unrestricted (TSU), and Additional Permissive Reexports (APR) for NS items destined for Russia. (Here)
- The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) published a press release about a man who was sentenced to 55 months imprisonment as well as a $250,000 fine. The reason: providing private flights to high-ranking officials of the Venezuela Government. (Here)
Thursday, March 18th:
- The United States Secretary of State issued a press release reminding people that Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal and that his Department is tracking efforts to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and is evaluating information regarding entities that appear to be involved. (Here)
Friday, March 19th:
- France added an individual to its list of asset freezing targets. (Here)
- DOJ unsealed a complaint filed in a U.S. District Court of Los Angeles charging 10 Iranian individuals (outside of the United States) with conspiracy to violate the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (Here)
Recommendations of the week:
- This week I would like to recommend to you to check out Dentons' annual Sanctions Year-in-Review. It covers sanctions developments in Canada, the E.U., the U.K., and the U.S. (Here)
Happy Nowrouz!
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