Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2666 actions· ✨ 90 recent

OFAC amends the Terrorism List Governments Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 596) to implement the Secretary of State's December 14, 2020 rescission of Sudan's State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST) designation, which Sudan had held since 1993. The rule removes references to the Government of Sudan and Sudanese nationals from §596.505 (the prohibition on financial transactions with SST-listed governments) and deletes §596.506 (which had required OFAC licensing for exports of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Sudan). The action reduces the US-Sudan sanctions perimeter by eliminating the TLGSR layer; the separate Darfur/ stabilization program (31 CFR Part 546) remains intact.

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.

On 1 April 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14022 terminating the national emergency declared by Trump EO 13928 (June 2020) that had authorised IEEPA-based asset-blocking sanctions against persons associated with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Following that termination, OFAC published a final rule effective 6 July 2021 (FR doc 2021-14337) striking 31 CFR Part 520 — the International Criminal Court-Related Sanctions Regulations — in full from the Code of Federal Regulations. No individual designations had been made under the program before its removal, and the administration concluded that financial sanctions were "not an effective or appropriate strategy" for addressing concerns about ICC jurisdiction over US personnel.

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.