On January 13, 2017, President Obama issued Executive Order, “Recognizing Positive Actions by the Government of Sudan and Providing for the Revocation of Certain Sudan-Related Sanctions” (“Sudan Executive Order”) to revoke in six months’ time the sanctions provisions of Executive Orders 13067 and 13412, which form the basis for US sanctions targeting Sudan, which are implemented through the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations (“SSR”). The provisions of the Sudan Executive Order that will terminate these US sanctions against Sudan will go into effect on July 12, 2017, provided the Government of Sudan continues the positive progress it has made in the past six months.
On January 4, 2017, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) added five Russian parties to its Entity List. The move follows the issuance of amended Executive Order 13694 (“Cyber EO2”) on December 29, 2016 and the subsequent designation of five Russian entities and four individuals on the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (“OFAC”) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) (see prior blog post here).
On October 14, 2016, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) and the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced final rules amending the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), 15 C.F.R. Part 730 et seq., and the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (“CACR”), 31 C.F.R. Part 515, respectively, to authorize additional activities relating to Cuba. The final rules became effective on October 17, 2016, upon publication in the Federal Register.
On September 20, 2016, the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published a final rule in the Federal Register implementing the 2015 Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary Agreements and that also included changes to a number of encryption-related provisions in the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). BIS described the changes as a “minor relaxation” intended to streamline and make more efficient the encryption requirements of the EAR. At the same time, BIS made clear that it considers the scope of encryption controls and the related License Exception ENC relatively unchanged. Key changes include: