The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on July 30. The OFAC also authorized deletions to the SDN list and made the certain changes.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on July 9 and July 11.

Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control made the following updates to its Specially Designated Nationals List, related to the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012:

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control made a lengthy update of the Specially Designated Nationals Burma Designations under the Iran Freedom and Counter Proliferation Act, effective July 2. The update is to assist foreign financial institutions in identifying which persons on the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list fall into the category of persons with whom a FFI may face exposure to sanctions on their U.S. correspondent or payable-through accounts. The phrase "Additional Sanctions Information -- Subject to Secondary Sanctions" will be applied to appropriate SDN listings. A list of SDNs affected by this update is in the July 2, 2013 section in OFAC’s SDN Changes file, which runs from page 35 to 170 of the file (here).

The Treasury Department will be issuing regulations in the future to implement certain provisions of the June 3 executive order on implementing the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act, the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a new set of FAQs. It said Department of State also expects to adopt an interpretation of the E.O. similar to OFAC's.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added the following individuals and entities to its Specially Designated Nationals List June 27. All were added under the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau extended the duration of tobacco and processed tobacco import permits from three to five years, as part of a reissue of parts of its tobacco regulations. All current holders of three-year permits must reapply for the new five-year permits, TTB said. The “temporary” final rule, which is effective Aug. 26, incorporates two 1999 TTB rules on tobacco marking and labeling and importer permits, as well as subsequent amendments, and makes “technical changes” throughout.

The Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau is asking for comments by Aug. 26 on a proposal to update its regulations on denatured alcohol. The proposed rule would reclassify some spirits from “specially denatured alcohol” (SDA) into the less-restrictive “completely denatured alcohol” (CDA) category. It would remove some SDA formulas, and create new general uses for others. TTB’s proposed rule would also amend some general provisions of TTB’s denatured alcohol regulations, including sections on labeling and export. According to TTB, “the proposed amendments would remove unnecessary regulatory burdens on the industrial alcohol industry as well as TTB, and would align the regulations with current industry practice.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a final rule amending the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations and the Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (TSR), effective June 27. The technical amendments clarify the scope of prohibitions on making donations, and amends the TSR to add a definition of the term “financial, material, or technological support.” Another amendment to TSR sets the maximum term of maturity for instruments in which funds may be invested or held within a blocked interest-bearing account at 180 days. Lastly, an amendment corrects a clerical error within the Foreign Terrorist Organizations Sanctions Regulations.

The governing body of men’s professional tennis circuits agreed to pay more than $48,000 to settle allegations of Iranian Transactions Regulations violations -- caused by multiple salary payments to a tournament official who resides in Iran -- the Office of Foreign Assets Control announced June 12. ATP Tour, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, agreed to pay $48,600 to settle potential civil liability, OFAC said. The agency alleges that between May 8, 2007 and July 15, 2010, ATP approved, facilitated and in some instances made 18 salary payments to an individual who is ordinarily a resident of Iran. The payments were for “services rendered and expenses incurred in connection with ATP tournaments the individual officiated,” OFAC said.