The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is seeking participants for a pilot set to begin Aug. 19 to test electronic filing in the Automated Commercial Environment (here). Under the pilot, importers of distilled spirits, wine, beer, tobacco products, processed tobacco, and cigarette papers and tubes will file information with CBP through TTB’s partner government agency (PGA) message set to meet TTB import requirements. Filers who wish to participate should contact TTB’s John Kyranos at (202) 453–2265 x001, or e-mail regulations@ttb.gov. TTB is also asking for comments on draft filing instructions on how to use its PGA message set in ACE (here). Comments are due Oct. 6.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Syria-related individuals, entities and vessels to the Specially Designated Nationals list on Aug. 3 (here) and Aug. 5 (here).

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Ukraine-related individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals list on July 30 (here). The agency also deleted Ukraine-related entries and added a long list of companies to its sectoral list.

Great Plains Stainless (GPS) Company agreed to settle with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls for alleged violations of the Executive Order "Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters" and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations (WMDPSR) on July 24 (here). GPS agreed to pay the OFAC $214,000 for alleged violations spanning from April 9, 2009 to July 4, 2009. The settlement includes descriptions of two violations. The first count described GPS sales of goods shipped from its Chinese vendor to a customer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, via "a vessel that was identified as blocked property," said OFAC. The second count cites GPS engaging in "transactions that appear to have been intended to evade or avoid the prohibitions in the WMDPSR when the company requested the creation of new trade documents, with references to the blocked vessel removed, and then transferred the altered documents to its customer to facilitate the release of goods held at port in Dubai," OFAC said.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added the following individual, entity and vessel to the Specially Designated Nationals list on July 23 (here):

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added the following entries to the Specially Designated Nationals list on July 21 (here):

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted the following entries from the Specially Designated Nationals list on July 9 (here):

The U.S., Iran and other world powers agreed on July 7 to extend the nuclear enrichment negotiations for an additional three days, and the Treasury Department will keep sanctions relief in place for that period, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said (here). The deadline for a final deal was originally June 30, and negotiators then pushed back the deadline to July 7.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control will stop issuing independent data files on July 10 for the Foreign Sanctions Evaders List, the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List and the Non-SDN Palestinian Legislative Council List, OFAC said in a release (here). That move is part of OFAC’s consolidation effort for non-Specially Designated Nationals Lists, said the agency. OFAC has posted the Consolidated Sanctions List data files online (here).

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted the following two entries from the Specially Designated Nationals list on July 2 (here):