The Drug Enforcement Administration is listing four fentanyl-related substances -- fentanyl carbamate, ortho-fluoroacryl fentanyl, ortho-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl and para-fluoro furanyl fentanyl -- under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a final rule released May 3. The four substances had already been temporarily controlled under a 2018 order that's set to expire May 6 (see 2004090045). The permanent listing takes effect May 4. “The regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis, or possess), or propose to handle any of these four specified fentanyl-related substances will continue to be applicable permanently as a result of this action.”
Although a court opinion last week cleared the way for exports of 3D-printed guns to be removed from State Department jurisdiction, the guns will continue to be covered under the agency’s U.S. Munitions List until the ruling is made official, the State Department said.
While Western sanctions against Russia haven’t fully succeeded, they’ve been more effective than widely assumed and have played a significant role in limiting Russia’s economic growth, economists and international relations experts said. The experts urged the U.S. and other Western countries to continue imposing sanctions against Russia, which may dissuade the country from pursuing destabilizing activities in Ukraine and interfering in foreign elections.
Syrian national Mazin Al-Tarazi, a Kuwait resident, will remain sanctioned by the European Union following an April 14 EU General Court decision dismissing his application to be removed from the list. The court found that while Al-Tarazi had raised a reasonable doubt as to his role in certain projects such as the construction of Marota City and investments in the construction and aviation industries, he is a “leading businessperson operating in Syria.” Al-Tarazi owns a luxury hotel in Syria and is licensed to operate a private airline, making him a prominent businessperson who “benefits from and/or supports the Syrian regime,” the court said.
President Joe Biden has made his choices for several senior positions at Treasury, including the agency’s top sanctions and foreign investment officials, Bloomberg reported April 30. Biden will nominate attorney Brian Nelson to be undersecretary of the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office, which oversees the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and attorney Josh Berman to be assistant secretary overseeing Treasury’s work on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., according to the report.
The United Nations Security Council on April 29 revised two entries on its Libya sanctions list. The changes revised identifying information for the entries.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated two listings on its Libya sanctions regime in an April 30 financial sanctions notice. Information was updated for Abd Al-Rahman Al-Milad and Mohammed Muammar Qadhafi, and both entries are still subject to an asset freeze.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control moved its Non-Specially Designated Nationals Communist Chinese Military Companies (NS-CCMC) List from a temporary PDF to a “standard OFAC list file format,” the agency said April 30. The list data will now be included in the agency’s “Non-SDN Consolidated Data Files” for machine processing, and “human-readable versions” will be available on a dedicated landing page. OFAC stressed that the change is “only an administrative, technical action.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 30 deleted five entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List. The entries were listed with addresses in Iraq. OFAC didn’t immediately provide more information.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a Texas money transfer company more than $34,000 for committing over 350 sanctions violations, OFAC said April 29. The company, MoneyGram Payment Systems, voluntarily disclosed the violations in 2017 (see 2011040041) after it provided services to blocked people in U.S. prisons and processed transactions on behalf of a sanctioned person and people doing business in Syria. OFAC said MoneyGram “had reason to know” the transactions “may” have exposed them to sanctions but followed through with them because of screening failures or “based on an erroneous misunderstanding” of its compliance obligations.