The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Feb. 6 deleted three entries and made changes to another on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is creating a new list of people and companies that have evaded economic and financial sanctions imposed on Iran and Syria. The Foreign Sanctions Evaders List, announced on Feb. 6, comprises foreign persons sanctioned under Executive Order 13608 of May 2012 (“Prohibiting Certain Transactions With and Suspending Entry into the United States of Foreign Sanctions Evaders With Respect to Iran and Syria”) (see 12050203). Dealings between U.S. persons and persons on the new “FSE” list are generally prohibited, as are transactions “through” the U.S., without authorization from OFAC, it said.
The Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control on Feb. 3 authorized all transactions related to the arrest, detention, and judicial sale of the MV SININ, identified by OFAC as blocked property in January and currently arrested in Zhoushan, China. This authorization expires on Feb. 28, 2015.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added the following individuals to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on Feb. 5:
CBP and other agencies took major strides in FY 2013 toward improving trade data processing, said the International Trade Data System (ITDS) Board of Directors in a report to Congress. The statutorily required yearly report outlines progress on deploying a "single window" to automate Participating Government Agencies' (PGA) collection and processing of required import and export information. An increase in finished memorandums of understanding (MOU) between CBP and other agencies was among the notable updates since the previous report.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) settled a potential civil liability case on Jan. 27 with Joint-Stock Commercial Bank “Bank of Moscow” for $9,492,525 over alleged violations of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations and Executive Order 13382. OFAC said Bank of Moscow committed 69 violations of the executive order (here) aimed at freezing the assets of weapons proliferators, and did not voluntarily self-disclose the alleged violations. OFAC determined, however, the alleged violations constitute a non-egregious case. From 2008 to 2009, Bank of Moscow allegedly transferred funds to or through the U.S. on behalf of an Iran-affiliated financial institution.
The State Department issued a notice concerning the Jan. 20 implementation of sanctions relief outlined in the Joint Plan of Action, the deal struck between P5+1 countries and Iran to scale back Iranian nuclear enrichment activities. The relief targets Iranian exports of petrochemical products, Iran’s purchase and sale of gold and precious metals, the provision of goods and services to Iran’s automotive sector, and the licensing of safety-of-flight inspections and repairs for Iranian civil aviation, along with the establishment of channels to permit humanitarian goods import. The relief also eases restrictions on Iranian export of crude oil. U.S. citizens and foreign entities owned or controlled by U.S. citizens continue to be generally prohibited from conducting transactions with Iran, unless licensed to do so by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). OFAC provided guidelines for the sanctions relief on Jan. 20 (see 14012113). The relief measures expire on July 20. The P5+1 countries include the U.S., Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) settled a potential civil liability case with Clearstream Banking, S.A., for $151,902,000 over apparent violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran, the department said on Jan. 23. From December 2007 to June 2008 Clearstream maintained an account at a U.S financial institution through which the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) kept a beneficial ownership interest in U.S.-held securities, and performed certain associated services on behalf of the CBI. In February 2008, Clearstream also transferred securities entitlements to the CBI via a European commercial bank custody account. The apparent violations were not voluntarily disclosed to OFAC, said the department. Clearstream waived the right to legally object to the financial settlement and other aspects of the agreement.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added an individual to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on Jan. 23.
The Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR) is a critical asset for those exporters developing personal software for Automated Export System filing, the Census Bureau said in a Jan. 22 blog. AESTIR (here) contains a set of appendices that help users program, test, report and understand export requirements, said the blog. Some notable appendices are as follows: