Trade Law

The United Kingdom just issued a new statutory instrument, effective immediately, which extends the authority to designate persons and entities under the U.K. sanctions against Russia.

On January 13, 2017, President Obama issued Executive Order 13761 to be effective on July 12, 2017, which would revoke prior executive orders underlying the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations and effectively terminate the Sudan sanctions program, provided that the incoming Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson) issues a finding regarding Sudan’s cooperation in five key areas of engagement: countering terrorist groups, ending the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army, ending the government’s offensive internal military operations, ending Sudan’s destabilizing role in South Sudan, and improving humanitarian access. See our prior alert on that executive order for more information.

On June 16, 2017, the Trump administration issued a national security presidential memorandum entitled “Strengthening the Policy of the United States Towards Cuba” (the “Presidential Memorandum”). Related to this announcement, the White House issued a Cuba Fact Sheet, OFAC issued a new set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the Department of Transportation also issued a new set of FAQs relating to the President’s announcement.

On February 2, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Cyber-related General License (GL) 1, a general license that authorizes certain transactions with Russia’s Federal Security Service (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti or FSB).  GL 1 authorizes U.S. persons (i.e., individuals and companies) to request, receive, use, pay for or deal in licenses, permits, certifications, or notifications issued or registered by the FSB for information technology (IT) products in Russia, provided that (i) the relevant IT goods or technology are subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and are licensed or otherwise authorized by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS); and (ii) payment of fees to the FSB for such licenses and other authorization or notification does not exceed $5,000 in any calendar year. GL 1 also authorizes transactions or activities that are necessary and ordinary incident to complying with law enforcement or administrative actions or investigations involving the FSB or rules and regulations administered by the FSB.

(Washington, D.C.) – Kevin J. Wolf, a former senior U.S. Department of Commerce official who served for the past seven years as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration, has joined Akin Gump as a partner in its international trade practice in Washington, D.C., the firm announced today. He is accompanied by Steve Emme, who served for five years as Senior Advisor to Assistant Secretary Wolf.

Introduction

On January 13, 2017, the Obama administration announced that it would lift sanctions imposed on Sudan issued under the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations (SSR), which are administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The action reverses nearly 20 years of U.S. policy toward Sudan, a country that had been the target of a comprehensive trade embargo due to human rights abuses and support for international terrorism. The United States has stated that its decision comes after months of bilateral engagement with Sudan, which has revealed that country’s support for key U.S. foreign policy goals, such as ceasing hostilities in conflict areas, including Darfur, and enhancing counterterrorism cooperation.

Overview of Actions Taken by the United States

On December 29, 2016, President Obama announced that he was sanctioning nine individuals and entities: the Main Intelligence Directorate (aka Glavnoe Razvedyvatel’noe Upravlenie) (GRU) and the Federal Security Service (aka Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti) (FSB), two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that were stated to have provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations. In addition, two Russian individuals were sanctioned for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information. These actions mark the first expansion of the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List to include entities and individuals under the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) cybersecurity program since it was established on April 1, 2015. The 2015 client alert can be found here.

On December 23, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a Final Rule amending the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 560 (ITSR) to expand the scope of permissible exports/re-exports of medicine, medical devices and agricultural commodities to Iran.