On December 10, 2014, the US Congress passed the “Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014” to impose certain new targeted sanctions against government officials involved in the February-to-May antigovernment protests in Venezuela. It is expected that this bill will be signed into law by the President in the near future. The available sanctions are blocking of property interests (e.g., designation as a “Specially Designated National” (“SDN”)) and visa bans…

On 13 December 2014, the US Congress passed a bill to impose certain new sanctions against Russia and in support of Ukraine. It is currently expected that this bill will be signed into law by the President within the next few days. The proposed sanctions include extraterritorial “Iran-style” sanctions against foreign parties engaging in certain activities in the defense, energy and financial sectors. The Senate first passed S. 2828, entitled the Ukraine Freedom Support Act…

In response to the Venezuelan military’s violent repression of the Venezuelan people, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) is issuing a final rule to impose license requirements on the export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) of certain items to or within Venezuela when intended for a “military end use” or “military end user.” The final rule amends Section 744.21 of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to add a licensing requirement for Venezuela that…