On April 27, 2023, the US Department of State (“State”) designated Russia’s Federal Security Service (“FSB”) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization (“IRGC-IO”) pursuant to Executive Order (“EO”) 14078 (Bolstering Efforts To Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home), with the result that the IRGC-IO has been added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). The IRGC as a whole and FSB were previously designated on the…
On February 21, 2023, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued OFAC Compliance Communique: Guidance on Authorized Transactions Related to Earthquake Relief Efforts in Syria (“Guidance”). The Guidance responds to specific questions OFAC received related to earthquake relief efforts in Syria and explains how to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people in compliance with US sanctions. The Guidance follows Syria General License 23, issued by OFAC on February…
The G7 announced the creation of a new Enforcement Coordination Mechanism “to bolster compliance and enforcement of our measures and deny Russia the benefit of G7 economies” on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The International Group of Seven (“G7”) is an intergovernmental forum whose members include the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and Japan, with the European Union as a “non-enumerated” member. As such, Germany, France and Italy are EU Member…
On 22 February 2023, Dutch Customs published a press release on its website indicating that the additional EU sanctions measures against Russia and Belarus will enter into force on 24 February 2023. Although relevant legislative texts have not yet been published, the release suggests that the “tenth package” of EU sanctions against Russia will include: an extension of the export restrictions related to dual-use goods and goods which could contribute to the enhancement of Russian…