On December 7, 2015, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued a six-month general license (“General License 20”) to allow certain transactions otherwise prohibited by the Burmese Sanctions Regulations (“BSR”) that are incidental to permissible exports to or from Burma. OFAC’s statement on the issuance of General License 20, which was issued to support US and Burmese exporters and to facilitate trade with Burma, is available here. General License 20 authorizes all transactions until…

On November 12, 2015, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13710 (here) ending sanctions related to the Republic of Liberia (“Liberia”) originally put in place in 2004 under Executive Order 13348 (here). Executive Order 13710 cited Liberia’s recent democratic progress as the main reason for lifting sanctions. Parties that were designated as specially designated nationals (“SDNs”) under Executive Order 13348 are no longer SDNs. On November 23, 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Order (“Order”)…

On October 29, 2015, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued Belarus-related General License No. 2, authorizing transactions otherwise prohibited by, and involving Belarusian entities blocked pursuant to, Executive Order 13405. The general license is effective only from October 30, 2015 through April 30, 2016, unless extended or revoked. General License No. 2 applies to all Belarusian entities currently identified as specially designated nationals (“SDNs”) pursuant to Executive Order 13405, and any entities…

On 8 March 2015, US President Barack Obama issued a new Executive Order (“Order”) authorizing the imposition of sanctions targeting Venezuela in response to the Venezuelan Government’s erosion of human rights guarantees; persecution of political opponents; curtailment of press freedoms; use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to antigovernment protests; arbitrary arrest and detention of antigovernment protestors; and the exacerbating presence of significant public corruption in the country. According to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, the Order “will be used to protect the US financial system from the illicit financial flows from public corruption in Venezuela” (statement of Secretary Lew on the Order). The Order was issued pursuant to various legal authorities, including the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (described in our posts of 16 December and 19 December 2014). The White House has published a Fact Sheet about the Order.