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Structured register of government actions in the geoeconomic space — export controls, tariffs, sanctions, FDI screening, subsidies, industrial-policy laws — cross-referenced into the country, minerals, and ETF surface. Charter: docs/IPTM_CHARTER.md.
Severity 1-5 is the qualitative impact rating (1=minor, 5=structural). The bilateral-trade-grounded quant scorer is the next IPTM milestone. RBI (Register Breadth Index) is a complementary structural-breadth indicator from scripts/py/iptm/breadth.py; divergence between RBI and severity is itself informative (high-sev / low-RBI = strategic chokepoint; low-sev / high-RBI = broad but shallow). Every action has at least one primary source URL. Verify-or-don't-file. See also themes, timeline, graph, sankey, map, country exposure, sector exposure, material exposure (+ graph), weekly briefs, portfolio scan, escalation monitor, trans-shipment hubs. Internal triage tools (RSS-poller candidate feed, source-feed health) live under /admin/candidates + /admin/sources. Subscribe via Atom feed (accepts ?country=CN, ?material=lithium, ?issuer=BIS, ?type=export_control, ?etf=SOXX, ?company=NVDA, ?minSeverity=4, ?year=2026, ?q=…) or pull /api/iptm/actions.
On 21 December 2022 OFAC published final rule FR Doc 2022-27564, amending 30 CFR parts (31 CFR Parts 510, 525, 536, 539, 541, 542, 544, 546, 547, 548, 549, 551, 552, 555, 558, 560, 561, 562, 569, 576, 579, 582, 583, 584, 585, 591, 594, 596, 597, 598) to add or update general licenses authorising (1) official business of the US government and (2) official business of designated international organisations and entities across the full OFAC program library. The rule also updates the 50 Percent Rule interpretive provision, clarifying that an entity's property is blocked when one or more blocked persons own an aggregate interest of 50 percent or more — directly or indirectly — and corrects CFR citations to meet current Federal Register formatting requirements. Published as companion to FR Doc 2022-27639 (NGO and humanitarian GLs), both rules effective 21 December 2022.
OFAC published an interim final rule creating 31 CFR Part 599 to implement Executive Order 14059 (December 15, 2021), which declared a national emergency regarding the unusual and extraordinary threat posed by the global illicit drug trade, including fentanyl and synthetic opioid trafficking. The regulations establish blocking prohibitions, SDN List designation procedures, and enforcement mechanisms targeting foreign persons who materially contribute to international drug proliferation. OFAC stated it would supplement this interim rule with more comprehensive final regulations covering licensing, reporting, and penalty procedures.
On 16 December 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2474, the 9th package of restrictive measures against Russia, amending Regulation (EU) 833/2014. It entered into force on publication the following day (17 December 2022). The package extends the prohibition on new EU investment from the Russian energy sector to the Russian mining and quarrying sector, bans exports of aircraft and drone engines and their parts to Russia (and to any third country that could re-supply drones to Russia), adds 168 entities to the sectoral export- control annex covering chemicals, nerve agents, night-vision and radio- navigation equipment, electronics and IT components, and prohibits EU advertising, market-research, product-testing and technical-inspection services to Russia. A parallel Council Decision/Implementing Regulation designated a further 141 individuals and 49 entities to the EU asset-freeze and travel-ban list.
Directive (EU) 2022/2557 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on the resilience of critical entities, published OJ L 333, 27 December 2022, entered into force 16 January 2023, with Member State transposition deadline 17 October 2024 (rules applicable from 18 October 2024). The CER Directive repeals Council Directive 2008/114/EC on European Critical Infrastructures, extending the scope from two sectors (energy, transport) to eleven essential-service sectors: energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructures, health, drinking water, wastewater, digital infrastructure, public administration, space, and food. Member States must adopt national resilience strategies, conduct risk assessments at least every four years, identify "critical entities" providing essential services whose disruption would have significant cross-border impacts, and ensure those entities implement technical, security, and organisational resilience measures, business-continuity plans, incident-reporting obligations, and personnel-security background checks. The CER Directive is the physical and hybrid resilience twin to the NIS2 Directive (2022/2555) — the two instruments form the binding EU critical-infrastructure-protection architecture replacing the 2008/114/EC regime.
Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 (Digital Operational Resilience Act, DORA) is the EU's first horizontal cyber- and ICT-resilience instrument for the financial sector. Adopted 14 December 2022 and published in the Official Journal on 27 December 2022, it entered into force on 16 January 2023 and applies from 17 January 2025. DORA covers approximately 22,000 EU regulated financial entities across ~20 entity types (credit institutions, insurers, investment firms, CCPs, trading venues, crypto-asset service providers, etc.) under five pillars: ICT risk management, ICT-incident reporting, digital operational resilience testing (including threat-led penetration testing for significant entities), ICT third-party risk management, and information sharing. Structurally novel, DORA establishes the Critical ICT Third-Party Provider (CTPP) oversight regime under which the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA, EIOPA) acquire direct supervisory powers over hyperscale cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle) servicing EU financial entities — the first EU mechanism for ESA direct oversight of non-financial cloud providers.
OFAC issued a determination under Executive Order 14071 (Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions) effective December 5, 2022, establishing a $60/barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil. The measure prohibits US persons from providing six categories of covered services — trading/commodities brokering, financing, shipping, insurance (including reinsurance and P&I), flagging, and customs brokering — for the maritime transport of Russian crude oil unless the oil is purchased at or below $60/bbl. The determination was coordinated with the EU, G7 nations, and Australia as a unified coalition instrument designed to reduce Russian oil revenues while keeping global energy markets supplied. Three general licenses (GL 55, 56, 57) carved out limited exemptions for Japan's Sakhalin-2 imports, certain EU landlocked states, and vessel emergencies.
Switzerland's Federal Council amended the Ordinance on measures in connection with the situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72) to align with the EU's eighth sanctions package, effective 6pm on 23 November 2022. The amendment creates the Swiss legal basis for an oil price-cap mechanism — banning maritime transport to third countries of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products unless purchased at or below a price cap to be set later (the G7/EU $60/bbl cap followed on 3 December 2022; see the companion US OFAC determination of 2022-12-05). It also extends import/export restrictions to additional iron and steel products and aerospace goods, bans the provision of IT, engineering, architecture and legal services to the Russian government and Russian companies, bans Swiss nationals from holding board seats at certain Russian state-owned companies, fully bans crypto-asset wallet/account/custody services to Russian persons regardless of value, and adopts an arms embargo against Russia (extended in part to Ukraine for reasons of Swiss neutrality).
Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on a Single Market For Digital Services (Digital Services Act, DSA) was adopted by the European Parliament and Council on 19 October 2022, published in OJ L 277 on 27 October 2022, entered into force on 16 November 2022, and applied in full from 17 February 2024 (with VLOP/VLOSE obligations applying from 25 August 2023 following the Commission's initial designation letters of February 2023). The DSA establishes a graduated intermediary-liability and platform-safety framework covering all online intermediaries serving EU users, with the heaviest obligations falling on designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs, ≥45m monthly active EU users) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs): systemic-risk assessments, annual independent audits, vetted-researcher data access, recommender-system transparency, online-advertising transparency, and crisis-response cooperation mechanisms under Commission coordination. The European Commission holds exclusive enforcement authority over VLOPs and VLOSEs, with fines up to 6% of global turnover. The DSA is the structural twin-pillar to the Digital Markets Act (Reg (EU) 2022/1925): the DMA governs ex-ante competition obligations on designated gatekeepers; the DSA governs ex-post intermediary-liability, content-moderation, and platform-safety obligations across all online intermediaries.
On 16 October 2022, Jordan promulgated Investment Environment Law No. 21 of 2022, published in Official Gazette No. 5821, entering into force 90 days later on approximately 14 January 2023. The law replaces the 2014 Investment Law No. 30 and restructures Jordan's entire FDI-promotion architecture: it establishes the Ministry of Investment (MOIN) and the Investment Council as apex bodies, codifies Development Zones, Free Zones, and Special Economic Zones (including the Aqaba Special Economic Zone — gateway for Jordan's phosphate exports via JPMC, the world's second-largest phosphate producer), and enshrines national-treatment guarantees with customs exemptions, zero-rated sales tax incentives, and investor-state dispute-settlement provisions for qualifying protected FDI. The law is the foundational parent statute for Jordan's IMF Extended Fund Facility-conditioned reform agenda and positions the country within the IMEC (India–Middle East–Europe Corridor) trade-investment integration architecture.
The US Bureau of Industry and Security imposed broad new controls on the export of advanced computing chips, chipmaking equipment, and US-person services supporting Chinese semiconductor fabrication. The October 7 2022 rule blocked supply of GPUs above set performance thresholds (initially 600 GB/s interconnect / 4800 TOPS) to China and added end-use restrictions on manufacturing tools used in advanced (≤14/16 nm logic, ≤18 nm DRAM, ≤128-layer NAND) facilities, with a foreign direct product rule extending coverage globally.
On 6 October 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1904, amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014, as the EU's eighth package of restrictive measures against Russia. It entered into force 7 October 2022. The regulation's headline measure creates the legal basis for an oil price-cap mechanism: a ban on maritime transport to third countries of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products, becoming operational once the Council sets an actual cap level by a separate decision (the G7/EU $60/bbl cap followed on 3 December 2022). The package also expands import bans on steel products (phased through 2024), firearms and ammunition, wood pulp and paper, and certain chemicals, cosmetics and jewellery materials; extends export bans on aviation-sector goods; bans the provision of architectural, engineering, IT-consultancy and legal advisory services to the Russian government and Russian companies; and imposes restrictions on Russian-flagged vessels at the Russian Maritime Register.
FinCEN issued a final rule (87 FR 59498, September 30, 2022) implementing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) by requiring most corporations, limited liability companies, and similar entities created in or registered to do business in the United States to file beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports with FinCEN. Reporting companies must identify two categories of individuals: beneficial owners (persons exercising substantial control or owning ≥25% of the entity) and company applicants (persons who filed the formation documents). Entities formed before January 1, 2024 had until January 1, 2025 to file; entities formed on or after that date had 30 days. Non-compliance carries civil penalties of up to $500/day and criminal penalties of up to $10,000 and two years imprisonment.
OFAC reissued the Central African Republic Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 553) in their entirety on 29 September 2022, replacing the abbreviated framework first published on 7 July 2014 under Executive Order 13667. The reissuance adds interpretive guidance, definitions, and general licenses — including provisions for humanitarian assistance, personal communications, and non-commercial personal remittances — without expanding the underlying substantive sanctions perimeter. The action is primarily a regulatory codification that provides compliance clarity for financial institutions and other US persons transacting with or near CAR.
Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector (Digital Markets Act, DMA) was published in OJ L 265 on 12 October 2022, entered into force on 1 November 2022, and applied for the most part from 2 May 2023. The DMA establishes an ex-ante competition framework imposing binding obligations and prohibitions on designated "gatekeepers" operating Core Platform Services (CPS) in the EU — covering search engines, social-networking services, video-sharing platforms, number-independent interpersonal communications, operating systems, web browsers, virtual assistants, cloud computing, online intermediation services, and online advertising. The European Commission designated six gatekeepers on 6 September 2023 (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft); full compliance with all obligations was required by 7 March 2024. Subsequent designations added Booking.com (May 2024) and Apple iPadOS (April 2024). The DMA functions as the EU's structural anchor for ex-ante digital competition regulation, closing the enforcement gap left by ex-post competition law (Articles 101–102 TFEU) where market-tipping dynamics make remedies ineffective after the fact.
OFAC reissued the Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 578) in their entirety on 6 September 2022, replacing the abbreviated placeholder framework first published on 31 December 2015. The reissuance implements Executive Order 13694 (1 April 2015, blocking property of persons engaging in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities) and Executive Order 13757 (28 December 2016, expanding that authority to include election interference). The full-form regulations add interpretive definitions, general licences, and civil-penalties provisions — providing compliance clarity for US financial institutions and technology companies without expanding the underlying sanctions perimeter.
Government Decree 53/2022/ND-CP, signed 15 August 2022 and effective 1 October 2022, implements Article 26 of Vietnam's 2018 Law on Cybersecurity. It mandates in-country storage of three categories of data — personal data of users in Vietnam, user-generated data, and user-relationship data — for both domestic and foreign cyberspace- service providers, with a minimum 24-month retention period. Foreign enterprises providing telecoms, data storage, domain names, e-commerce, online payments, social networks, online video games, or messaging services to users in Vietnam must establish a Vietnamese branch or representative office within 12 months of a Minister of Public Security written request. The decree closes a four-year implementation gap on the 2018 Cybersecurity Law and is the principal Vietnamese digital-trade barrier alongside Decree 13/2023/ND-CP (Personal Data Protection).
On 4 August 2022 OFAC formally published in the Federal Register nine general licenses (GLs 17–25) that had previously been made available only on OFAC's website under EO 14065 (Donetsk/Luhansk regions) and, for GL 25, also EO 13685 (Crimea). GL 17, which authorised wind-down of Donetsk/Luhansk transactions, had already expired on 23 March 2022. GLs 18–25 remain in force and authorise a structured set of humanitarian and civil-society carve-outs — covering agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices, telecommunications, official international organisation business, personal remittances, internet-based communications, NGO activities, civil maritime services, and journalistic activities — within the otherwise restricted territory of Crimea, the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), and the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR).
On 13 July 2022 OFAC formally published in the Federal Register two general licenses (GL 2 and GL 10) that had been issued under the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions program and made available previously only on OFAC's website. Both licenses had already expired by the time of publication: GL 2 (EO 13662 Directive 4 wind-down, expired September 2014) authorised a limited window to wind down contracts involving Russian energy-sector entities subject to sectoral sanctions, while GL 10 (EO 13685 Crimea, expired October 2016) authorised divestiture of holdings in blocked Russian infrastructure entity PJSC Mostotrest. The Federal Register codification is an administrative archival step with no substantive change to the sanctions regime.
The UK laid the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (UKSI 2022/748), in force 5 July 2022, extending the Belarus sanctions regime to mirror measures already imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. The regulations ban export to Belarus of dual-use goods and technology for all purposes, and of critical-industry goods and technology including quantum-computing components, microelectronics, marine and navigation equipment, and aircraft/aircraft parts. They widen existing import bans to cover a greater range of petroleum/mineral products and prohibit import of arms, iron and steel products originating in or consigned from Belarus, and extend financial sanctions barring Belarusian companies from issuing debt or securities in London or obtaining loans from UK banks, and barring UK persons from providing financial services to the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus or the Belarusian Ministry of Finance.
OFAC adopted a final rule on 1 July 2022 amending the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (GTSR, 31 CFR Part 594) to implement Executive Order 13886 ("Modernizing Sanctions To Combat Terrorism," 9 September 2019). The rule expands the designation criteria in §594.201 to reflect EO 13886's additions, allowing OFAC to block property of foreign persons who act on behalf of, or provide material support to, foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) — broadening the perimeter beyond EO 13224's original focus on persons threatening international peace and stability through terrorism. Supporting amendments update cross-references and the definition of "effective date" throughout Part 594 to reflect the new authority baseline.
Loi n° 2022-408, promulgated by President Alassane Ouattara on 13 June 2022 and published in the Journal Officiel de la République de Côte d'Ivoire (JORCI) on 19 September 2022, is the foundational local-content statute governing the entire petroleum and gas value chain in Côte d'Ivoire. The law mandates employment priority for Ivorian nationals, preference for Ivorian-registered enterprises in goods-and-services procurement, expatriate-substitution timelines, and technology-transfer obligations on all concessionnaires, co-contractors, and sub-contractors operating in upstream and midstream petroleum and gas activities. Implementing Décret n° 2023-441 du 24 mai 2023 created the Comité de Suivi du Contenu Local under the Ministre du Pétrole and the Plateforme du Contenu Local digital monitoring system under the Direction Générale des Hydrocarbures (DGH), operationalising annual reporting and three-year forecasting plan requirements for operators.
The Council of the EU adopted Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/878 of 3 June 2022, implementing Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. The regulation adds 65 individuals and 18 legal entities to Annex I, subjecting them to an EU-wide asset freeze and a prohibition on EU persons or entities making funds or economic resources available to them. The listed entities span Russia's defense-industrial base, military-linked vehicle and tyre manufacturing, and financial-market infrastructure.
On 3 June 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/879, the sixth package of sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, further amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014. It bans the seaborne import of Russian crude oil and refined petroleum products, covering roughly two-thirds of EU oil imports from Russia at adoption (pipeline deliveries via Druzhba were temporarily exempted). It removes Sberbank, Credit Bank of Moscow and Russian Agricultural Bank from SWIFT (Annex XIV), bans EU operators from providing accounting, auditing, bookkeeping, tax consulting, business/management consulting and public-relations services to persons in Russia (new Article 5n), and adds three more Russian broadcasters to the EU broadcasting-suspension list (Annex XV). It entered into force on 4 June 2022, the day after publication in the Official Journal.
Regulation (EU) 2022/868 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2022 on European data governance — the Data Governance Act (DGA) — was published in the Official Journal on 3 June 2022, entered into force on 23 June 2022, and became fully applicable on 24 September 2023. The DGA is the second pillar of the EU data-economy framework (alongside GDPR for personal data and the Data Act 2023/2854 for industrial/IoT data) and establishes four structural mechanisms: (i) a harmonised public-sector data re-use regime for protected data held by public-sector bodies; (ii) a mandatory notification and structural-separation regime for data-intermediation service providers; (iii) a voluntary recognition framework for data-altruism organisations (RDAOs); and (iv) the European Data Innovation Board (EDIB) to co-ordinate national competent authorities and advise on common European data spaces and interoperability standards. The regulation is the foundational parent statute of the existing French SREN law filing (2024-05-21) and functions as enabling legislation for the EU's sectoral common-data-space programme (Health, Agriculture, Finance, Mobility, Green Deal, Energy, etc.).
OFAC final rule (FR Doc 2022-12445, 87 FR 35068) amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations at 31 CFR Part 515 to implement elements of the Biden administration's May 16, 2022 Cuba policy announcement supporting the Cuban people. The rule reinstates the group people-to-people educational travel general license (suspended under the Trump administration) for organizations sponsoring exchanges that promote meaningful contact with Cubans and support civil society; removes the $1,000 quarterly limit on family remittances to close relatives in Cuba; authorizes donative remittances to Cuban nationals not affiliated with the government or Communist Party; and expands authorizations for professional meetings and conferences in Cuba. Effective June 9, 2022.
On 2 May 2022 OFAC published a comprehensive final rule in the Federal Register renaming the Ukraine Related Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 589) to the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations and replacing the abbreviated regulatory text that had been in place since 2014 with a fully elaborated framework. The new Part 589 incorporates interpretive guidance, definitional provisions, and consolidated general licenses implementing Executive Orders 13660, 13661, and 13662 — the original March 2014 Ukraine/Crimea-crisis authorities. The rule does not introduce new substantive prohibitions; it formalises and makes accessible the regulatory infrastructure that underlies subsequent GL issuances (e.g., GL 13Q/13R, GL 15K/15L) and OFAC designation actions under the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions program.
Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations via SOR/2022-075, registered and in force 5 April 2022, in response to Belarus's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The amendment prohibits any person in Canada and any Canadian outside Canada from providing insurance, reinsurance or underwriting services for aviation and aerospace products owned, controlled, registered to, chartered by or operated by Belarus or a Belarusian person. A new section 3.6 separately establishes export prohibitions on goods and technologies listed on a Belarus Restricted Goods and Technologies List, incorporated by reference, aligning Canada's Belarus measures with its parallel Russia export-control regime. The same instrument added nine individuals (Belarusian oligarchs and defence officials) to the Schedule 1 asset-freeze list, outside this action's scope.
On 16 March 2022 the Swiss Federal Council adopted a total revision of the Ordinance on Measures against Belarus (SR 946.231.116.9), aligning Switzerland's autonomous sanctions with the EU's Belarus regime. It bans imports of Belarusian petroleum products, potassium chloride ("potash"), wood, iron and steel, and cement and rubber products; bans exports of goods used to manufacture or process tobacco products, weapons, surveillance equipment, and goods usable for Belarus's military or security development; and imposes financial sanctions including a ban on public financing for trade with or investment in Belarus, restrictions on securities/loans/ deposits, a prohibition on transactions with the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, and exclusion of listed Belarusian banks from SWIFT. The ordinance entered into force on the day it was adopted.
On 15 March 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/428, amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 (the fourth package of measures against Russia). It bans imports, purchase and transport of the iron and steel products listed in a new Annex XVII that originate in or are exported from Russia, bans the sale or export of Annex XVIII luxury goods to Russia (above EUR 300 per item unless otherwise specified), and prohibits transactions with the Russian state-controlled entities listed in Annex XIX. The Regulation entered into force on the day after its publication in the Official Journal (OJ L 87 I, 15.3.2022), i.e. 16 March 2022.
On 4 March 2022 Switzerland's Federal Council adopted a total revision of the Ordinance on Measures Relating to the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), taking effect the same day at 18:00, to fully implement the EU's sanctions packages of 23 and 25 February 2022. The revision bans export of all dual-use goods to Russia regardless of end use or end user, bans export of goods that could contribute to Russia's military or technological strengthening or its defence and security sector, and prohibits export of specified goods and services to the oil sector, as well as goods for aviation, space and oil-refining/gas-liquefaction use.
On 1 March 2022, OFAC published an interim final rule adding the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations (RuHSR) at 31 CFR Part 587, codifying into Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations all prohibitions previously imposed by Executive Order 14024 of 15 April 2021. The regulations were issued in abbreviated form to provide immediate public guidance, with OFAC indicating an intent to supplement them with additional definitions, general licenses, and interpretive guidance. All transactions prohibited under EO 14024 — including prior sectoral determinations and directives targeting Russia's financial services sector, sovereign debt markets, and key state institutions — are formally prohibited under Part 587, giving domestic courts and compliance teams a stable regulatory anchor.
On 28 February 2022, South Korea's government condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and announced it would strengthen export control review to block strategic items -- microelectronics, telecommunications equipment, sensors, navigation equipment, avionics, marine equipment, and aircraft components -- from reaching Russia. The statement also committed Korea to joining the exclusion of designated Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system, with implementation details to follow through interagency consultation, alongside plans to release strategic petroleum reserves and divert LNG cargoes to Europe.
On 25 February 2022, the day after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/328, amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014. It prohibits the sale, supply, transfer or export of dual-use goods and technology to any person, entity or body in Russia, or for military use or military end-users there, and extends to goods and technology suited for use in the oil refining industry and for the aviation and space industry, alongside a ban on related technical assistance, brokering, financing and insurance/maintenance services. The Regulation entered into force on the day after its Official Journal publication (OJ L 49, 25.2.2022), i.e. 26 February 2022.
SOR/2022-28, registered and in force on 24 February 2022, amends the Special Economic Measures (Ukraine) Regulations to prohibit persons in Canada and Canadians abroad from making investments involving property in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic regions, from importing, purchasing or acquiring goods from them, and from exporting goods destined for them. It also bars related financial services, technical assistance and tourism-related services. The prohibitions are territorial and apply to goods generally; no product list is itemised.
On 24 February 2022, hours after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, the UK Foreign Secretary announced a full asset freeze on VTB, Russia's second-largest bank (£154bn in assets, 95,000 employees), alongside a freeze on all Russian bank assets in the UK and a ban on Russian companies raising finance on UK markets. The package designated more than 100 companies and individuals -- including five major defence firms (Rostec, Uralvagonzavod, Tactical Missile Corporation, United Aircraft Corporation, United Shipbuilding Corporation) and Putin-inner-circle figures such as Kirill Shamalov -- for asset freezes and travel bans. Aeroflot was banned from UK airspace and new export controls were imposed on electronics, telecommunications and aerospace goods to Russia.
Between 22 and 28 February 2022 — coinciding with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine — OFAC issued a Financial Services Sectoral Determination and four directives under Executive Order 14024 of April 15, 2021. Together they authorise designation of any person operating in Russia's financial sector, prohibit US persons from trading Russian sovereign debt, bar US banks from maintaining correspondent accounts for designated Russian financial institutions (Sberbank, Alfa-Bank and others), prohibit new investment in certain Russia-related entities, and block all transactions involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund, and the Ministry of Finance — effectively freezing approximately USD 640 billion in Russian sovereign reserves held in Western financial systems. The package was formally published in the Federal Register on 31 May 2022.
Executive Order 14065, signed 21 February 2022, prohibits new investment by US persons in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republic (DNR/LNR) regions of Ukraine, bans the importation into the United States of any goods, services or technology from those Covered Regions, and bans exports, reexports, sales or supply to them by or from US persons. It also prohibits US-person approval, financing, facilitation or guarantee of transactions by foreign persons that would be barred if done by a US person. It expands the national emergency first declared in EO 13660.
The Uganda Mining and Minerals Act 2022, passed by Parliament on 17 February 2022 and signed into law by President Museveni on 14 October 2022, replaces the Mining Act 2003 (Cap 148) and establishes a comprehensive new legal framework for Uganda's extractive sector. The Act grants the Republic of Uganda a 15% free-carried equity interest in all large- and medium-scale mining operations, introduces Mineral Production-Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) as a new licensing instrument alongside reformed exploration, retention, and mining licences, and establishes the Uganda National Mining Company (UNMC) as the state participation vehicle. A mandatory Mineral Beneficiation framework ties export permits to local-processing thresholds, while tightened local-content rules cover procurement, employment, and services obligations, and a new ASM formalisation regime introduces traceability and Mineral Buying Centre requirements.
OFAC amended the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 544), implementing Executive Order 13382 (28 June 2005, blocking property of WMD proliferators and their supporters). The rule revised existing General License Section 544.507 by removing the requirement that all payment receipts for legal services must be specifically licensed, and added a new General License Section 544.508 authorising payments for legal services from funds originating outside the United States under defined conditions. The amendment aligns Part 544's legal-services framework with the broader cross-program approach OFAC was standardising across sanctions programmes during this period.
OFAC published a final rule on February 9, 2022 adjusting the maximum civil monetary penalty (CMP) ceiling amounts across multiple statutory sanctions authorities as mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015). The 2022 adjustment reflects the October 2020 to October 2021 CPI-U change (approximately 6.2%), raising the IEEPA ceiling from $311,562 to $330,947, the TWEA ceiling from $91,816 to $97,529, and the Narcotics Kingpin Act maximum from $1,548,075 to $1,644,396. The rule is issued as a final rule effective on publication without prior notice and comment under the non-discretionary "good cause" exemption.
FinCEN published a final rule on January 24, 2022 (87 FR 3729) adjusting the maximum civil monetary penalties (CMPs) for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violations under 31 CFR § 1010.821, as mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015). The 2022 multiplier is 1.06222, reflecting the October 2020 → October 2021 CPI-U change per OMB Memorandum M-22-07 of December 15, 2021 — the same unusually large ~6.2% inflationary adjustment applied across all federal agency CMP schedules that cycle. The largest single-penalty ceiling rises to $1,556,481 (due-diligence and special-measures violations under 31 U.S.C. § 5321(a)(7)).
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) extended for a second time the temporary unilateral export control on software classified as ECCN 0D521 — "software specially designed for training a Deep Convolutional Neural Network to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery and point clouds" — adding a third year of control through January 6, 2023. The extension was required because COVID-19 prevented the Wassenaar Arrangement from formally convening in 2020 or holding sufficient deliberations in 2021 to consider the US multilateral control proposal submitted in 2020. Only License Exception GOV (§ 740.11(b)(2)(ii)) is available; all other exports require a specific license from BIS.