The State Department imposed sanctions on China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation First Academy, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Fourth, and Poly Technologies Incorporated due to missile technology proliferation, it said in a notice. Such entities are denied new individual licenses for items on the U.S. Munitions List and all items controlled under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 for two years.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is amending the Transnational Criminal Organizations Sanctions Regulations and reissuing them in their entirety. OFAC said, in a notice that the reissuance will further implement two executive orders related to transnational criminal organizations, issued July 24, 2011, and March 15, 2019. OFAC amended the regulations to provide “additional interpretive guidance, definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public.” The regulations implement targeted sanctions directed at persons that constitute a significant transnational criminal organization or persons that have materially assisted, or provided financial, material, or technological support for those organizations.

Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, who also led the World Bank, told an Atlantic Council audience that he doesn't think sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine is a particularly useful approach. "Sanctions have a mixed history," he said. "They tend to be most effective as a tool when they’re narrowly focused," such as with export controls. "To be blunt, people often apply them because they’re not sure what else they’re ready to do … but they want to signal their displeasure," he said during the Jan. 19 webinar. He suggested that if the U.S., Canada and Europe offered to invest in Ukraine with an eye to improving its economy and as a carrot to improve its governance, that could be more effective.

The U.N. Security Council on Jan. 17 removed three entries from its ISIL (Da’esh) and al‑Qaida Sanctions List. The council deleted the entries for the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia and Indonesia.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 18 sanctioned three people and one entity for acting as “financial facilitators” for Hezbollah. OFAC said Adel Diab, Ali Mohamad Daoun and Jihad Salem Alame -- founders of the Lebanon-based travel agency Dar Al Salam for Travel & Tourism -- help support the terrorist group through goods or services. Diab and Alame are Hezbollah members, and Daoun is a Hezbollah official, OFAC said.

The U.S. on Jan. 12 sanctioned seven people and one entity for helping to procure goods for North Korea’s weapons and missile programs. The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Russia-based North Korean national Choe Myong Hyon and four China-based North Korean weapons procurement officials: Sim Kwang Sok, Kim Song Hun, Kang Chol Hak and Pyon Kwang Chol. The State Department sanctioned North Korean national O Yong Ho, Russian national Roman Anatolyevich Alar and Russian entity Parsek LLC for helping to deliver weapons materials to North Korea. OFAC said the sanctions follow North Korea’s six missile launches since September, which violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Australia this week began implementing a U.N. Security Council exemption for certain humanitarian-related activities and transactions involving the Taliban in Afghanistan. Under the exemption, adopted by the UNSC Dec. 22 and implemented by Australia Jan. 11, certain “payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary” for humanitarian aid will “not constitute an offence under Australian sanctions laws,” Australia said. All other transactions or activities not covered by the exemption may still violate Australian sanctions, the country said. The U.S. recently issued new guidance and general licenses to help humanitarian aid flow more easily to Afghanistan (see 2112220041).

The U.S. and the EU this week announced a coordinated set of sanctions against Nicaragua for the country’s “fraudulent” presidential elections that have kept the Daniel Ortega regime in power. The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned six Nicaraguan government and military officials, and the EU sanctioned seven officials and three government entities. The U.S. and the EU announced the sanctions Jan. 10.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new frequently asked question to address how certain “loans, contracts, or other agreements” are treated under its Belarus, Ukraine/Russia and Venezuela sanctions programs. The FAQ, issued Jan. 7, outlines how OFAC views modifications to “pre-existing loans, contracts, or other agreements to replace London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as the reference rate.” The agency said any loans or contracts that use LIBOR as a reference rate and are “modified to replace such benchmark reference rate” won’t be treated as new debt for OFAC sanctions purposes, “so long as no other material terms of the loan, contract, or agreement are modified.”

The U.N. Security Council on Jan. 4 removed five entries from its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions. The removals are: Mevlut Kar, Denis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert, Nayef Salam Muhammad Ujaym Al-Hababi, Turki Mubarak Abdullah Al-Binali and Tuah Febriwansyah.