In October 2024, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) celebrated the second anniversary of their Enhanced Partnership. This collaboration, initiated in response to the increasingly complex geopolitical landscape, aims to bolster the effectiveness of sanctions as a global tool for national security. Over the past two years, OFAC and OFSI have worked closely to coordinate their sanctions regimes,…
On October 30, 2024, the US Government imposed sanctions on hundreds of entities and individuals across the globe, primarily in response to Russia’s continued war in Ukraine, and amended US export controls related to Russia and Belarus. Below, we describe the key actions taken by the US Departments of the Treasury, State, and Commerce. 1. OFAC Actions With the aim of disrupting global sanctions evasion networks and domestic suppliers to Russia’s military-industrial base, the US…
On October 11, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued a determination under Section 1(a)(i) of Executive Order 13902 dated January 10, 2020 (“EO 13902”) designating the petroleum and petrochemical sectors of the Iranian economy as subject to US secondary sanctions. This industry sector designation adds to secondary sanctions designations announced in January 2020 under EO 13902 on the Iranian construction, mining, manufacturing, and textile sectors of the Iranian economy as well as…
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (“OFAC”) has issued a final rule (“FR”) amending its Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations (the “Regulations”), which will be effective on November 7, 2024. Our previous blog detailing OFAC’s prior interim final rule (“IFR”) for these amendments is available here. The FR will make only one amendment to the Regulations, which will expand the list of exclusions from OFAC’s blocked property reporting requirements. In…