The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation renewed five designations under its terrorism sanctions, a July 7 notice said. OFSI renewed sanctions for Qasem Soleimani, Hamed Abdollahi, Manssor Arbabsiar, Ali Gholam Shakuri and Abdul Reza Shahlai. The renewals took effect July 6.

The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a July 6 guidance detailing how sanctioned people and entities can request changes or repeals of their designations. OFSI also released a “Sanctions Challenge Form” for “designated persons” to request a review of their designation.

The United Nations Security Council granted a sanctions exemption to allow an organization in Finland to deliver humanitarian goods to North Korea, a June 24 letter said. Finn Church Aid, a nongovernmental organization, is authorized to ship food supplies and learning materials to primary school children for the next six months. Finland may conduct “necessary business and financial transactions only for the purchase of goods and services exempted” by the UNSC.

The United Kingdom will impose its first human rights sanctions before the summer recess of its Parliament, U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said July 1. Raab said he “will not speculate on or pre-empt who or what will be in those designations.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control July 2 removed sanctions from eight companies and vessels that had been sanctioned for operating in Venezuela's oil sector. The agency also revoked a general license that authorized certain transactions with two of the shipping companies, Marshall Islands-based Delos Voyager Shipping and its Delos Voyager and the Greece-based Romina Maritime and its Euroforce (see 2006180044). OFAC also removed designations from the Delos Voyager and Euroforce, along with the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel Voyager I, Marshall Islands-based Sanibel Shiptrade Ltd. and Adamant Maritime Ltd., and the Bahamas-flagged vessel Seahero, which were sanctioned June 2 (see 2006020024).

The European Council renewed sectoral sanctions against Russia for six months until Jan. 31, 2021, the council said June 29. The sanctions limit Russian banks’ access to the European Union market, block trade in defense and dual-use goods, and restrict the sale to Russia of sensitive technologies that can be used in its energy sector. The restrictions were originally introduced in 2014 in response to Russia’s actions to destabilize Ukraine.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on July 1 issued a reminder to industry to file annual reports on blocked property by Sept. 30. Companies that are “holders of blocked property” must provide OFAC with a list of all blocked property held as of June 30. Property that was unblocked by an OFAC license or was previously blocked by a sanctions program that was terminated before June 30 does not need to be reported, OFAC said. The notice includes a link to the 2020 blocked property report spreadsheet and an updated guidance on filing blocked property reports.

More than 170 lawyers and legal scholars urged President Donald Trump to rescind a June executive order that authorizes sanctions against International Criminal Court lawyers and investigators (see 2006110028), saying the sanctions violate American values and undermine the legitimacy of other U.S. sanctions. “U.S. sanctions have long been legitimately imposed on terrorists, international criminals, and gross violations of human rights,” the June letter said. “But targeting ICC lawyers -- and in some cases their families -- punishes the very people who investigate atrocities.”

The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on June 30 added 11 entries to its Venezuela sanctions list. The sanctions target government officials and prosecutors within President Nicolas Maduro's government.

The United Nations Security Council on June 25 renewed sanctions against the Democratic Republic of the Congo for one year. Among other measures, the sanctions restrict the sale of arms and other “related material and assistance” to nongovernmental entities and individuals in the country. The measures are renewed until July 1, 2021.