On 16 March 2016, President Barack Obama issued a new Executive Order (the “Order”) imposing additional sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“North Korea”). As a result of these new sanctions, US Persons (defined below) are prohibited from engaging in virtually all transactions with North Korea. Additionally, pursuant to the Order, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced that it had designated 2 individuals, 15 entities, and 20 vessels as Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”). OFAC also issued nine general licenses for certain activities involving North Korea and published frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) pertaining to the Order and general licenses.
Introduction
Following the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (“DPRK” or “North Korea“) latest nuclear test and rocket launch on 6 January 2016 and 7 February 2016 respectively, the UN Security Council (“UNSC“) unanimously adopted Resolution 2270 (2016) (the “UN Resolution“) on 2 March 2016.
The UN Resolution contains far-reaching sanctions aimed at cutting off funds for DPRK’s nuclear and other banned weapons programmes, whilst avoiding “adverse humanitarian consequences” for civilians. The UN Resolution adds sectoral sanctions, broadens the scope of the existing financial sanctions and arms embargo, imposes new measures targeting proliferation networks, and expands the list of designated individuals and entities.
Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”), Saturday, January 16, 2016, was “Implementation Day.” On that date, the US Government relaxed certain sanctions against Iran after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had fulfilled its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA. These measures primarily affect parties who are not “U.S. persons” (i.e., US citizens or permanent residents (wherever located or employed), entities organized under the laws of the United States (including foreign branches), and persons…
On Friday, September 18, 2015, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) announced amendments (the “September Amendments”) to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (“CACR”) and the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) in a continuing effort to relax certain aspects of the US embargo against Cuba. The September Amendments follow an earlier relaxation on January 16, 2015 (the “January Amendments”) and the policy changes originally announced…