The sanctions relief deal struck between Iran and P5+1 countries will be extended through June 30, 2015, said the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) (here). The P5+1 countries include the U.S., Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany. The sanctions relief was originally set to expire on Nov. 24. The relief liberalizes restrictions on Iranian exports of petrochemical products, Iran’s purchase and sale of gold and precious metals, the provision of goods and services to Iran’s automotive sector, and the licensing of safety-of-flight inspections and repairs for Iranian civil aviation, and establishes channels to permit importation of humanitarian goods (see 14012715).
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Colombian individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals list on Nov. 19 (here).
The Treasury Department settled a case with ESCO Corporation over violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations involving the purchase of Cuban-origin nickel between 2007 and 2010, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced on Nov. 13 (here). An ESCO subsidiary allegedly purchased the nickel in “large-volume and high-value transactions,” and ESCO agreed to pay $2,057,540, said OFAC. ESCO has now strengthened its OFAC compliance program, OFAC said.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added individuals and entity to the
Specially Designated Nationals list, and also deleted several entries.
The following Colombian individuals have been added to OFAC’s SDN List (here):
• Perez Ocampo, German Alberto (Colombia)
• Perez Ocampo, Santiago (Colombia)
The following Yemeni individuals have been added to OFAC’s SDN List (here):
• Al Hakim, Abdullah Yahya (Yemen)
• Al-Huthi, Abd Al-Khaliq (Yemen)
• Saleh, Ali Abdullah (Yemen)
The following Colombia entity has been made to OFAC’s SDN List (here):
• Compra Venta Gerpez (Colombia)
The following deletions have been added to OFAC’s SDN List (here):
• Gomez Rua, Adolfo Leon (Colombia)
• Dolautos Vehiculos E Inmuebles Y Cia (Colombia)
• Taller Ramiautos I.P. (Colombia)
• Digital Comunications Service (Colombia
• Guberek Reyes, David Felipe (Colombia)
• Florez Grajales, Yudy Lorena (Colombia)
• Florez Grajales, Yudi Lorena (Colombia)
• Fiorillo Baptiste, Lester Raul (Colombia)
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The Treasury Department granted 99 licenses for U.S. agriculture and medical exports to Iran and Sudan, two of the primary countries the Obama administration continues to sanction, in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2013, that agency’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in recent days (here). OFAC authorizes some U.S. exports of food products, medicine and medical devices under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enforcement Act of 2000. From Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013, OFAC also denied one license, although OFAC didn’t give details on that application. OFAC processed dozens of license amendments and “return-without-action” notices in that time period. The 99 licenses OFAC approved included 18 for agricultural commodities, nine for medicine and 72 for medical devices. Eighty-one out of the 99 licenses authorized shipments to Iran, and the other 18 authorized trade to Sudan. The average wait time for a license approval is 59 business days, while a denial takes on average 160 business days, OFAC said.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added individuals to the Specially Designated Nationals list on Oct. 21, and also deleted two dozen entries.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals list on Oct. 16 and deleted a number of entries.
The Treasury Department again chose to not label China or any other country a currency manipulator as part of its semiannual report to Congress on exchange rate policies. Some pressure has built over recent days and weeks to call out both China and Japan on currency values and manipulation (see 14101004). Treasury said China is making strides in allowing its currency to reflect market forces, even though the yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB), is still severely undervalued. Between mid-February and late April, the RMB depreciated by 3.1 percent. Since late April, it has partially recovered, appreciating by 1.9 percent,” said the report. “On balance, in the first nine and a half months of 2014, the RMB has depreciated by 1.4 percent against the dollar after strengthening by 2.9 percent in 2013.”
The Treasury Department should muster the nerve to name China a currency manipulator for the first time during the Obama administration, said a prominent U.S. manufacturing advocate in a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Oct. 8. In the most recent Treasury report to Congress on international exchange rates and their effect on trade, the agency chose not to label China a manipulator, but said China scaled back progress on bringing the yuan to market value (see 14041720). The next such report is due later in October. Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said China is increasingly manipulating its currency. “The situation has, if anything, grown worse over the last six months,” he said. “The dollar/yuan exchange rate is essentially the same this week as it was 17 months ago and China’s aggressive intervention has caused the yuan to fall 1.63 percent below its high-water mark in January 2014. China continues to amass major trade surpluses with the United States — reaching a single-month record in July 2014.” Paul also urged Treasury to label Japan a manipulator, saying that country is fueling U.S. trade deficits by allowing its currency to weaken 30 percent over the last 18 months. Japan is a Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating party, but U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman recently told Congress the countries involved in the talks have not yet discussed currency (see 14050123).
The Treasury Department authorized U.S. citizens and companies to make some transactions with DenizBank, after Executive Order 13662 prohibited dealings with the company. Denizbank is a Turkish financial institution owned by Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank. The U.S. sanctioned Sberbank in September, placing it on the Specially Designated Nationals List (see 14091503). That move was part of a larger sanctions package that followed a number of other rounds of sanctions since the outset of 2014. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is also allowing U.S. transactions with banks that Denizbank owns 50 percent or more of. A Treasury directive, under the executive order, bars U.S. individuals or companies from dealings with sanctioned banks in “new debt of longer than 90 days maturity or new equity for these persons, their property, or their interests in property" (here).