Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 2-6 in case you missed them.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control is removing the Terrorism Sanctions Regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations, OFAC said in a notice. The change was made due to the “termination of the national emergency on which the regulations were based.” The change will not affect any action taken or any action pending and not “finally concluded” as of 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2019, the notice said. The change is effective March 10.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a frequently asked question March 6 clarifying how humanitarian goods can be sent to Iran to assist with the coronavirus outbreak. OFAC said there are a “number of ways” humanitarian goods, including donations, can be sent to the country, adding that medical-related donations are “generally exempt” from U.S. sanctions if those donations are not being sent to the Iranian government or others blocked by the Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations. OFAC also said donations are not authorized for shipments to entries on the agency’s Specially Designated Nationals List. Nongovernmental organizations are authorized under General License E to export services to Iran “in support of certain not-for-profit activities designed to directly benefit the Iranian people,” OFAC said. Others interested in exporting humanitarian goods to Iran should review the ITSR and other OFAC guidance, the agency said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Nicaraguan National Police (NNP) and three police commissioners, and issued two general licenses and a new frequently asked question, according to a March 5 news release. The sanctions target the police force for its role in human rights abuses, Treasury said, as well as commissioners Juan Antonio Valle Valle, Luis Alberto Perez Olivas and Justo Pastor Urbina for their roles as senior leaders of the group.
Two Chinese nationals sanctioned by the Treasury Department were charged with laundering more than $100 million worth of cryptocurrency, the Justice Department said March 2. Tian Yinyin and Li Jiadong, who were added to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals List earlier this week (see 2003020042), were charged with money laundering conspiracy and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, the Justice Department said. They allegedly worked with North Korean cyber hackers, who stole nearly $250 million worth of virtual currency, and never registered with the U.S.’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network despite conducting business in the U.S.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Chinese nationals who laundered stolen cryptocurrency, Treasury said in a March 2 news release. The two people, Tian Yinyin and Li Jiadong, were responsible for a 2018 “cyber intrusion” linked to Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-sponsored “malicious cyber group” sanctioned in September for cyber espionage and data theft (see 1909130039). Tian and Li were also designated for providing financial, material or technological support for Lazarus Group.
The Treasury Department’s recent settlement with a Swiss telecommunications and information technology organization highlighted the agency’s ability to “effectively” impose primary sanctions obligations on a non-U.S. person, according to a Feb. 28 post from MassPoint Legal and Strategy Advisory. It also showed how the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control can base sanctions jurisdiction on the “involvement in foreign transactions of U.S.-origin software and technology and telecommunications hardware” located in the U.S.
Companies looking to comply with U.S. sanctions should use screening programs from trusted third parties instead of trying to build their own, according to Brian Grant, head of global compliance of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The need for companies to have robust compliance programs has grown “significantly” over the last several years, he said, and using screening software and procedures from experienced companies creates less risk.
The U.S.-Swiss joint mechanism used to export humanitarian goods to Iran is now “fully operational,” the Treasury Department said Feb. 27. Treasury also issued a general license and a series of frequently asked questions to clarify how the mechanism can be used.
A Swiss telecommunications and information technology organization agreed to pay nearly $8 million for violations of U.S. terrorism sanctions, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a Feb. 26 notice. The organization, Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA), committed more than 9,000 violations of the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations when it provided U.S.-origin services and software to airlines designated by OFAC.