The Office of Foreign Assets Control made several counter-terrorism additions to its Specially Designated Nationals list on Jan. 17, OFAC said (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is adding a general license under Iran sanctions regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 560, relating to importation of Iranian-origin carpets and foodstuffs, to become effective Jan. 21, OFAC said (here). The P5+1 and Iran on Jan. 16 reached “Implementation Day” for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, setting in motion a rollback of several sanctions on Tehran.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 17 designated 11 entities and individuals involved in procurement on behalf of Iran’s ballistic missile program, the office said in a press release (here). The news comes one day after Secretary of State John Kerry announced implementation of the unrelated Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which initiated a rollback of several U.S. nuclear sanctions on Tehran. “Iran’s ballistic missile program poses a significant threat to regional and global security, and it will continue to be subject to international sanctions,” said Adam Szubin, Treasury’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “We have consistently made clear that the United States will vigorously press sanctions against Iranian activities outside of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action." Obama administration officials have recently said that they were looking into reports that Iran conducted a ballistic missile test on Oct. 10 and another on Nov. 21.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control made several counter-terrorism additions, counter-narcotics deletions, and changes, to its Specially Designated Nationals list on Jan. 7 (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is issuing regulations (here) to implement sanctions against cyber criminals as laid out in Executive Order 13694 (here) announced on April 1. The sanctions are aimed at blocking the property of people “engaging in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities.”
Treasury’s Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is seeking to collect information to verify claims for drawback of the federal excise tax for items--"generally nonbeverage products"--brought into the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands (here). Treasury will submit the information request to the Office of Management and Budget for review and clearance.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added to its Specially Designated Nationals list on Dec. 16, under Kingpin Act designations (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added to its Specially Designated Nationals list on Dec. 10, under Kingpin Act designations (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a six-month general license—“GL 20”—to allow trade-related transactions otherwise barred by Burmese Sanctions Regulations (BSR), the department said Dec. 7 (here). The license opens up the possibility for certain transactions that result from exports to or from Myanmar involving specially designated nationals (SDNs), and SDN-owned entities involved in trade to or from Myanmar. Among the current prohibitions that remain in effect are the import of Burmese-origin jadeite, rubies, and jewelry containing those materials. The license authorizes the transactions until June 7, 2016, and allows U.S. financial institutions to unblock and return transactions blocked on or after April 1, 2015, that would have been granted authorization if the general license had already been authorized. “Today’s general license supports the prior easing of U.S. economic sanctions on Myanmar in response to significant positive reforms in the country, while maintaining targeted sanctions against specific individuals and entities,” it said. OFAC issued the license in response to “unintended interruptions” to Burmese trade because of sanctions concerns with a “key” Rangoon port, said the State Department in news release (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added to its Specially Designated Nationals list due for counter-terrorism on Dec. 1, it said (here). It also added individuals and entities linked to the Syrian conflict and North Korea to the SDN List on Dec. 8 (here).