On March 6, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) continued its trend of selectively easing the Venezuela sanctions by (1) issuing General License No. 51 (“GL 51”), the first general license (“GL”) beyond the energy sector, and (2) publishing six new Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) addressing the scope of several of the previously issued energy-related GLs. In parallel, Venezuela has begun reforming its mining sector. Background Since late…
Baker McKenzie’s Trade, Sanctions, and Customs Practice is pleased to invite you to join us at our upcoming Milan Trade Day 2026. This event will be essential for Italian companies trying to navigate the trade, sanctions, and customs hurdles in a very disruptive 2026, and will feature short panels of Baker McKenzie Italian trade, customs and criminal law specialists as well as international speakers on US and EU sanctions, export controls, and customs developments. Please register for…
Introduction The current geopolitical environment in Venezuela is continuing to evolve. While the legal and business environment has improved, businesses operating or looking to operate there are still continuing to analyze risks. At the same time, tangible steps are being taken to better position Venezuelan industries for foreign investment, including a recent partial reform of Venezuela’s Organic Hydrocarbons Law. On the US front, sanctions remain in place against the Venezuelan government and Specially Designated Nationals…
This week, the US relaxation of sanctions against Venezuela’s oil and gas sector entered a new phase with the publication of a general license authorizing a broad range of upstream oil and gas activities. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has been busy with Venezuela-related actions over the past few weeks. We previously blogged about general licenses authorizing oil trading and downstream activities (blog post here) and the…