The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals list in recent days, while dropping dozens of entries (here).

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added one individual and dropped another from the Specially Designated Nationals list on Aug. 25 (here). The OFAC changes following State Department action on the two individuals (see 1508250030).

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Central African Republic individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals list on Aug. 21 (here). OFAC also made one Central African Republic deletion.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals list on Aug. 19 (here).

The U.S. will continue its temporary sanctions relief on Iran over the upcoming months before any nuclear enrichment deal is implemented, the Treasury Department said in a recent day's memo (here). That relief lifts 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. It also creates channels to allow Iran to import humanitarian goods. The U.S., Iran and P5+1 countries, which include the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China and a European Union representative, struck a long-term deal in mid-July to lift sanctions in exchange for Iranian commitments to ensure its nuclear program is peaceful (see 1507210005). Congress is preparing to vote on whether to reject the deal after reconvening in September, and a bipartisan range of high-profile lawmakers have recently vowed to oppose it (here). President Barack Obama has threatened to veto a vote of disapproval, meaning opponents will need to build support from two-thirds of each chamber. The implementation date for a final deal isn’t yet decided, but analysts expect the first half of 2016 (here).

The Treasury Department settled cases in recent days with two companies over violations of the U.S. sanctions regime. Production Products will pay Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control $78,750 over illegal shipments to China of three duct fabrication machines (here). The Maryland-based company sent the goods to China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp., an entity on the Specially Designated National list. OFAC also published a notice of sanctions violations involving Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings (SOHL), a subsidiary of Houston-based Schlumberger Ltd. (here). SOHL and Schlumberger collaborated to direct and oversee the transfer of oilfield equipment to Iran and Sudan, two countries that are strictly sanctioned by the U.S. Those transfers, along with other violations that involved capital expenditures and technical services, took place from 2004-2010. SOHL agreed to pay a more than $150,000,000 criminal fine to the Justice Department and a forfeiture of more than $77,000,000, said OFAC.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is seeking participants for a pilot set to begin Aug. 19 to test electronic filing in the Automated Commercial Environment (here). Under the pilot, importers of distilled spirits, wine, beer, tobacco products, processed tobacco, and cigarette papers and tubes will file information with CBP through TTB’s partner government agency (PGA) message set to meet TTB import requirements. Filers who wish to participate should contact TTB’s John Kyranos at (202) 453–2265 x001, or e-mail regulations@ttb.gov. TTB is also asking for comments on draft filing instructions on how to use its PGA message set in ACE (here). Comments are due Oct. 6.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Syria-related individuals, entities and vessels to the Specially Designated Nationals list on Aug. 3 (here) and Aug. 5 (here).

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Ukraine-related individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals list on July 30 (here). The agency also deleted Ukraine-related entries and added a long list of companies to its sectoral list.

Great Plains Stainless (GPS) Company agreed to settle with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls for alleged violations of the Executive Order "Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters" and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations (WMDPSR) on July 24 (here). GPS agreed to pay the OFAC $214,000 for alleged violations spanning from April 9, 2009 to July 4, 2009. The settlement includes descriptions of two violations. The first count described GPS sales of goods shipped from its Chinese vendor to a customer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, via "a vessel that was identified as blocked property," said OFAC. The second count cites GPS engaging in "transactions that appear to have been intended to evade or avoid the prohibitions in the WMDPSR when the company requested the creation of new trade documents, with references to the blocked vessel removed, and then transferred the altered documents to its customer to facilitate the release of goods held at port in Dubai," OFAC said.