The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions related to crude oil originating from the Sakhalin-2 project, an oil and gas development business based in Russia, as long as the Sakhalin-2 byproduct is solely for importation into Japan. General License 55D, which replaces 55C (see 2411210020), authorizes those transactions through Dec. 19. The license was scheduled to expire June 28.
Despite the Trump administration easing certain sanctions against Syria, companies should still be carrying out careful due diligence and should be aware of other legal risks they could face before doing any business in the country, industry advisers said this week.
The U.K. last week updated a general license authorizing insolvency-related payments and activities involving Russian aircraft leasing companies GTLK Europe and GTLK Capital. The changes add new definitions for "notes, Noteholders, Trustee, Relevant non-UK Institution, UK Prohibited Persons and UK Prohibited Persons Account," clarified that certain funds must be held in frozen accounts, revised a notification requirement and a record-keeping requirement, and added a new reporting requirement.
Trade enforcement under President Donald Trump could "look a little different" than how the federal government has previously acted because of how the DOJ seems now to want to focus on holding individuals accountable, as opposed to corporations, according to a trade lawyer speaking during a June 6 webinar hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center.
The U.S. this week sanctioned four International Criminal Court judges and issued several general licenses to authorize certain transactions with those judges or with the ICC that otherwise would be blocked by the Trump administration’s sanctions authorities against the judicial body (see 2502070022).
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Banks need more guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to comply with the agency’s new timeline for new sanctions-related recordkeeping requirements, which were extended from five years to 10 years (see 2503190003), the American Bankers Association said.
The Trump administration confirmed this week it will not renew a general license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control that has allowed Chevron to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela.
The Treasury Department issued a new general license last week that it said gives “immediate” sanctions relief to Syria, “effectively lifting sanctions” on the country in the aftermath of last year’s fall of the Bashar Assad regime.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is authorizing certain transactions related to the M.V. Tinos I, a vessel owned by sanctioned Iranian national and liquified petroleum gas magnate Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh (see 2504220032), while it's in the U.S.