Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled OFAC Issues New and Amended General Licenses and FAQs; Designates more than 400 Russian Parties on 28 March 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled US Government Imposes Sanctions Prohibiting Importation of Russian Energy Products and New Investments in the Russian Energy Sector on 14 March 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled US Department of Commerce Extends the Significant Export Controls Imposed on Russia to Belarus, Narrows License Exceptions Available for Russia on 6 March 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled “US Government imposes expansive OFAC sanctions on Russia, sanctions certain additional Belarussian entities” on 27 February 2022. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.
On February 22, 2022, the US Government issued a number of additional sanctions measures against Russia in response to President Putin’s recognition of the independence of the “so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic in Ukraine (LNR)” and his request to deploy forces to those regions – with President Biden characterizing these developments as “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.” The new US sanctions measures build on the comprehensive region-wide sanctions imposed on the two territories of DNR and LNR on February 21, 2022, as reported in our prior blog here.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the US State Department, and the US Commerce Department have issued rules adjusting maximum civil monetary penalties under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act – Improvements Act of 2015.
On February 2, 2022, the Department of State published a proposed rule that, most significantly, would amend provisions of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations affecting how the nationality of foreign persons is determined for purposes of deemed exports/reexports.
On December 2, 2021, the EU, UK, US, and Canada all imposed additional coordinated sanctions on Belarus as a punitive action against the government led by President Alexander Lukashenko, which has been accused of human rights violations and creating a migrant crisis at Belarusian borders. As further described below, the sanctions included the designation of a number of parties (individuals and entities), whilst certain individuals will also be subject to travel bans preventing them entering or transiting the EU and UK. The US has also introduced financial sectoral sanctions, similar to those already imposed by the EU, UK and Canada.
On November 10, 2021, the US Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce issued a joint advisory (the “Advisory”) cautioning US companies operating in or considering operations in Cambodia to be conscious of dealings with entities and in sectors potentially involved in human rights abuses, criminal activities, and corrupt business practices. We describe the Advisory in additional detail below.
On September 17, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14046, “Imposing Sanctions on Certain Persons With Respect to the Humanitarian and Human Rights Crisis in Ethiopia” aimed at addressing the widespread humanitarian conflict in northern Ethiopia. Both the White House and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken also released statements calling for ceasefire negotiations to begin to find a political solution to the ongoing conflict in the region and a sanctions scheme to target individuals and groups responsible for violence, unrest, human rights abuses and the obstruction of humanitarian efforts.