Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

OFAC published a final rule (86 FR 26661) amending the Narcotics Trafficking Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 536) and the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 598) to add or update four categories of general licenses. The amendments authorise payments for legal services from non-US or public funds, allow personal maintenance transactions for incarcerated Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs), permit upkeep of blocked tangible property, and expand emergency medical services authorisation to cover payment as well as provision of care. The rule takes effect on the same day as publication and applies to all persons designated under either the NTSR or FNKSR programmes globally.

The Biden administration on 2 March 2021 determined, pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act), that Russia used a Novichok-class nerve agent against opposition figure Alexei Navalny in August 2020 — the third CBW Act invocation against Russia (after Salisbury 2018 and its follow-on 2019 round). The determination triggered mandatory statutory sanctions including termination of US foreign assistance to Russia (except humanitarian aid and food/agricultural commodities), suspension of US arms and defense-article sales and export authorisations to Russia, and denial of US government credit and financial assistance. Seven Russian government officials linked to the poisoning were concurrently designated by Treasury/OFAC. The measures take effect after a mandatory 15-day congressional notification period and remain in force for at least 12 months unless Russia certifies Chemical Weapons Convention compliance and takes other required steps.

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published abbreviated Hong Kong-Related Sanctions Regulations at 31 CFR Part 585, codifying the sanctions framework established by Executive Order 13936 of July 14, 2020 ("The President's Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization"). The regulations prohibit all transactions with persons designated under EO 13936 — those determined to have undermined Hong Kong's autonomy or contributed to the erosion of freedoms guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration — and add designated persons to the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. OFAC published the rules in abbreviated form for immediate public guidance, with intent to supplement with full interpretive guidance, general licenses, and licensing policy.