OFAC Civil Monetary Penalties — 2022 Annual Inflation Adjustment

Mechanism

Under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (28 U.S.C. 2461 note), as strengthened by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Pub. L. 114-74 § 701), all federal agencies are required to publish annual inflation-adjusted civil monetary penalty ceilings no later than January 15 of each calendar year. OFAC calculates the adjustment using the October-to-October change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2022 adjustment reflected the unusually large October 2020 → October 2021 CPI-U increase of approximately 6.2%, consistent with the broad 2021 inflation spike visible across all federal agency CMP adjustments that cycle. The rule was published February 9, 2022 — slightly past the January 15 statutory deadline — and is effective on publication.

The rule applies to CMPs assessed for violations occurring after November 2, 2015 (the effective date of the 2015 Improvements Act).

The statutory authorities whose ceilings OFAC adjusts are:

• IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. 1705) — the foundational

authority underlying most OFAC sanctions programs (Russia, Iran, China/CMIC, Venezuela, Myanmar, etc.)

• TWEA (Trading with the Enemy Act, 50 U.S.C. 5) — applies to Cuba comprehensive embargo

and Korean War–era programs

• FNKDA (Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, 21 U.S.C. 1906) — narcotics-trafficking

sanctions (SDNT, SDNTK designations)

• AEDPA (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 8 U.S.C. 219) — counter-terrorism

sanctions

• CDTA (Clean Diamond Trade Act, 19 U.S.C. 3907) — conflict-diamond trade controls

Penalty table — adjusted amounts effective February 9, 2022

AEDPA and CDTA amounts were also adjusted proportionally but not separately confirmed by third-party sources; the authoritative schedule is in Appendix A to 31 CFR Part 501.

Relationship to adjacent adjustments

• 2021 adjustment (predecessor): Set the pre-2022 IEEPA ceiling of $311,562, TWEA

ceiling of $91,816, and FNKDA ceiling of $1,548,075.

• 2023 adjustment (successor): Filed at 2023-01-13-us-ofac-cmp-inflation-adjustment-2023;

applied the 2021–2022 CPI-U multiplier (approximately 8.2%, the peak pandemic-era inflation year) to the 2022 ceilings, raising IEEPA from $330,947 to $356,579 and TWEA to $105,083.

• 2024 adjustment: Filed at 2024-01-12-us-ofac-civil-monetary-penalties-inflation-adjustment-2024;

raised IEEPA to $368,136.

Downstream implications

• Sets the statutory enforcement-price ceiling for OFAC sanctions non-compliance from

February 9, 2022 onward; compliance teams at financial institutions, fintech platforms, investment advisers, and trading firms calibrate risk-adjusted reserve provisions to these ceilings when stress-testing sanctions exposures.

• The IEEPA ceiling ($330,947 per violation or twice the transaction amount, whichever is

greater) is the operative reference for the vast majority of OFAC civil penalties and administrative determinations, as virtually all post-1977 sanctions programs derive from IEEPA authority.

• The 2022 adjustment was notably larger than the preceding two annual adjustments due to

the 2021 CPI-U spike; compliance risk models calibrated to 2020-era ceilings required upward revision.

Open questions

• None material — routine annual non-discretionary adjustment.