On November 12, 2015, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13710 (here) ending sanctions related to the Republic of Liberia (“Liberia”) originally put in place in 2004 under Executive Order 13348 (here). Executive Order 13710 cited Liberia’s recent democratic progress as the main reason for lifting sanctions. Parties that were designated as specially designated nationals (“SDNs”) under Executive Order 13348 are no longer SDNs. On November 23, 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Order (“Order”)…
On July 30, 2015, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated certain individuals and entities on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) and identified certain entities on the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List (“SSI List”) pursuant to various Russia sanctions measures that have been imposed since last year. A complete list of parties that are newly designated on the SDN List and the SSI List is available here. …
On June 3, 2015, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) and the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) published two proposed companion rules to revise and harmonize certain definitions in the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) as part of the U.S. Government’s ongoing export control reform efforts (the “Proposed Rules”) (see BIS’s proposed rule here and DDTC’s proposed rule here). …
The US House of Representatives passed the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114hr1191enr/pdf/BILLS-114hr1191enr.pdf on May 14, 2015 by a vote of 400 to 25. On May 18, 2015, this legislation was presented to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law. It requires that any final nuclear deal reached with Iran as part of the P5+1 negotiations with Iran be presented to Congress within 5 calendar days. Parties to the negotiations…