Monday, March 20
Australia imposed asset-freezing sanctions on 27 individuals and 15 entities in Iran under the Australian sanction program against Russia for providing Unmanned Armed Vehicles (UAVs) to Russia's military and Australian Magnitsky program for human rights violations. (Russia program designations, Magnitsky program designations)
The UK also imposed asset-freezing sanctions against seven individuals in Iran under the UK's Iran sanctions regime. (Here, press release)
The EU Council imposed asset-freezing sanctions on eight individuals and one entity responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran. (Here, press release)
Tuesday, March 21
OFAC imposed blocking sanctions on four entities and three individuals who were involved in the procurement network for Iranian UAVs under the U.S. non-proliferation sanctions program. (Here, the Department of the Treasury's press release, the Department of State's press release) Department of Justice also published a press release regarding an indictment that was unsealed against some of the newly sanctioned persons. (Here)
OFSI rolled out its trust services sanctions against Russia. In doing so, OFSI published a new page on its website dedicated to trust services sanctions, amended its sanctions list to indicate the applicability of trust services sanctions to hundreds of entries, updated its Russia guidance, and issued general license INT/2023/2589788 to allow certain wind-down activities.
Wednesday, March 22
There was no major development on this day.
Thursday, March 23
The UK Export Control Joint Unit published a notice to the exporters concerning the new regulations, the Export Control (Military and Dual-Use Lists) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, which will come into force on 31 March 2023. (Here)
The Department of State imposed travel restrictions (a type of sanction) on three individuals in Paraguay and their immediate family members for their involvement in significant corruption under Section 7031(c) of the annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. (Here)
Friday, March 24
FinCEN published a new page on its website dedicated to the upcoming beneficial ownership information changes. (Here) It includes some FAQs, videos, etc. to help the public prepare for the new reporting obligations.
OFAC is updating its Belarus Sanctions Regulations. (Here)
OFAC imposed asset-freezing sanctions on three entities and nine individuals, and identified one presidential aircraft as blocked property, under its Belarus sanctions program. (Here, the Department of the Treasury's press release, the Department of State's press release)
OFAC imposed asset-freezing sanctions on two individuals and six entities related to the Burmese military. (Here, the Department of the Treasury's press release, the Department of State's press release) OFAC also published an alert to inform individuals, businesses, and other persons of the sanctions risks associated with providing jet fuel to Burma’s military regime. (Here)
The Recommendation of the Week
For this week I would like to bring your attention to two sanctions-related cases in the U.S. courts: