On June 5, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) amended the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (“SSR”), 31 C.F.R. Part 542 and issued and amended frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) related to the SSR. According to a new OFAC FAQ, these changes are aimed, in part, at facilitating humanitarian assistance and internet-based communication services to Syrian civilians.
The SSR has been revised as follows:
- Incorporation into the SSR of Various Statutes and Executive Orders: OFAC has amended § 542.201 to add various prohibitions and bases for designations of Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”) from the Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012, Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, and Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019. It has also added a new SSR section at § 542.212 to incorporate prohibitions related to Foreign Sanctions Evaders (“FSEs”) from Executive Order 13608.
- Expansion of Authorization for Internet-based Communications Services: In order to reflect recent technological changes, the general license at § 542.511 has been expanded to list additional technologies related to internet communication; to cover the exportation of services, software, and hardware related to internet communications; and to introduce a case-by-case licensing review standard for the export of internet-related services to Syria. The scope of permissible services under § 542.511 is now largely aligned with similar authorizations in § 560.540 of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, which we recently blogged about here. This general license has restrictions and prohibitions on the provision of services to the Government of Syria or Syrian SDNs as well as the supply of exportation of commercial-grade internet connectivity services or commercial-grade telecommunications transmission facilities.
- Expansion of Permitted NGO Services: The general license at § 542.516, which permits services related to NGO activity, has been amended to clarify the scope of authorized activities and to add new authorized activities (i.e., environmental and natural resource protection programs; disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs; peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution programs). This authorization was also amended to make clear that employees, contractors, and grantees of NGOs may rely on this general license. Finally, OFAC added a note in this SSR provision to clarify that US financial institutions may rely on statements made by the originators of funds to process authorized transactions, as long as they do not have reason to know that the funds are not compliant.
- Expansion of International Organizations Authorization: The general license at § 542.513, which authorizes the official business of certain international organizations, has been expanded to cover the International Committee of the Red Cross; International Federation of Red Cross; Red Crescent Societies; Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. This authorization was also amended to remove the requirement that contractors or grantees provide a copy of their contract or grant with the relevant international organization to US persons relying on this general license. OFAC also added a clarification note for US financial institutions similar to the one provided in § 542.516.
- Incorporation of General License No. 22 (“GL 22”) into the SSR: GL 22 (discussed in more detail on this blog here) has been incorporated into a new SSR section, § 542.533, and continues to authorize certain activities in northeast and northwest Syria that are otherwise prohibited under the SSR. OFAC has concurrently published in the Federal Register a List of Areas of Northeast and Northwest Syria in Which Activities are Authorized by 31 CFR 542.533 that was previously an annex to GL 22 to identify all of the locales to which this authorization applies.
- New General License Concerning FSEs: A new general license has been added at § 542.534 to authorize transactions that involve Syrian FSEs, given that prohibitions for such FSEs have been added to § 542.212. Specifically, this new general license now allows any transaction that would otherwise be prohibited due to the involvement of a Syrian FSE, as long as that transaction would be permitted in respect of Syrians SDNs.
- Remaining Amendments to SSR General Licenses: The general licenses at § 542.507, § 542.508, and § 542.531 have been edited to clarify that specific authorization is not needed for additional services related to authorized legal services; to eliminate the requirement that US persons submit copies of engagement letters and quarterly reports to OFAC when providing authorized legal services to the Government of Syria or Syrian SDNs; and to expand the authorization for emergency medical services, respectively.
OFAC also issued one new SSR FAQ (1180) and amended five other SSR FAQs (205, 231, 232, 934, 938) to account for the SSR amendments outlined above.
The authors acknowledge the assistance of Hussain Awan in the preparation of this post.
