On October 29, 2020, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule (the “final rule”) amending the license review policy under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) for items controlled for national security (“NS”) reasons when destined to China, Russia, or Venezuela. The amendments add Venezuela to the list of countries to which the policy applies and modify the policy to replace the reference to military capabilities with a new,…
On May 12, 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced the lifting of US sanctions on Nynas AB (“Nynas”) and the related revocation of General License No. 13E (“Authorizing Certain Activities Involving Nynas AB”) (“GL 13E”). We blogged about last month’s extension of GL 13E here. Nynas and its subsidiaries were previously subject to US sanctions because Nynas was indirectly owned and controlled by Petróleos de Venezuela SA (“PdVSA”) and,…
On April 28, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published two new final rules and a proposed rule in the Federal Register amending the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to tighten restrictions on exports of technology to China, Russia, and Venezuela. According to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, these actions are intended to combat efforts by entities in China, Russia, and Venezuela to use certain US technologies obtained through civilian supply chains…
On November 5, 2019, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued a new Venezuela-related general license (General License No. 35) (“GL 35”) to authorize certain administrative transactions with the Government of Venezuela (“GOV”) prohibited by Executive Order (“EO”) 13884 (“Blocking Property of the Government of Venezuela”); issued General License No. 34A (“GL 34A”), which supersedes and replaces General License No. 34, and authorizes transactions involving certain GOV-related individuals prohibited by EO 13884; and identified five current GOV officials on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) pursuant to EO 13884.
Then, on November 21, 2019, OFAC announced the amendment of the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations (“VSR,” 31 C.F.R. Part 591) to incorporate additional EOs; make certain clarifying changes; add a GL authorizing US Government activities; and add an interpretive provision regarding activities related to judicial processes. The VSR regulatory amendments took effect on November 22, 2019 concurrent with their publication in the Federal Register, available here.
These Venezuela sanctions developments are described in more detail below. Our previous blog posts about US sanctions targeting Venezuela are available here.