International Trade Today is a service of Warren Communications News.
Subscriber Login

OFAC

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers and enforces various economic and trade sanctions programs. It sanctions people and entities by adding them to the Specially Designated Nationals List, and it maintains several other restricted party lists, including the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, which includes entities subject to certain investment restrictions. 

to
articlessource documents
Refine Topic Search
Clear Terms

Search Primer

Multi-word term: Place inside quotes to ensure an exact match together (e.g. "China import").

Term list: Separate terms with spaces, not commas or semicolons to find either word (e.g. AD/CVD antidumping).

Acronyms: Use all capital letters (e.g., ACE).

Required term: If a term must be included in any resulting articles, prefix it with a plus sign (e.g., CBP +releases).

Excluded term: If a term should be excluded from any articles being found, prefix it with a minus sign (e.g., -ruling).

Singular form: Use the singular form when doing multi-word terms (e.g. "russian export control" instead of "russian export controls").

Shortest word form: When you have different word forms in a quoted term, include the shortest version if it is the last part of the expression (e.g., "entity list" instead of "entity listing" or "entity listed").

OFAC Adds to SDN List
November 15, 2016 |Treasury Dept.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added six individuals to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under Russia/Ukraine-related designations, OFAC said (here).

OFAC Adds to SDN List
November 14, 2016 |Treasury Dept.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added four individuals to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under counter-terrorism designations, OFAC said (here).

Company Settles With DOJ, OFAC and BIS Over Multiple Alleged Sanctions Violations
November 14, 2016 |Penalties and Courts

National Oilwell Varco entered into a $25 million non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas after the company allegedly violated Iranian and other sanctions regulations from about 2002 to 2009, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said (here). National Oilwell Varco also entered into settlements with OFAC and the Bureau of Industry and Security. Between October 2002 and April 2005, the company approved at least four payments totaling $2.63 million by its subsidiary Dreco Energy Services to a United Kingdom-based entity relating to the sale and exportation of goods, directly or indirectly, from Dreco to Iran, in apparent violation of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, OFAC said. The company also engaged in two transactions combining for nearly $13.6 million, involving the sale and exportation of goods to Iran, and/or facilitated those transactions in violation of the Iranian sanctions regulations.

Export License Seekers Encouraged to Share More Consignee Info to Reap Reform Benefits
November 2, 2016 |Top News

Applicants for Bureau of Industry and Security export licenses should say whether ultimate consignees will take title to items after shipment, to help maximize effects of reduced processing burdens attributed to export control reform, BIS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Administration Matthew Borman said Nov. 1 at the Update 2016 Conference on Export Controls and Policy. BIS processed more than 35,000 license applications in 2015, and the State Department processed 45,000, combining for a total “significantly lower” than before export control reform started in 2010, Borman said. The numbers reflect the “dramatic” movement of items from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL), as well as license exceptions available for CCL “500 Series” and “600 Series” items, he said.

OFAC Updates SDN List
October 27, 2016 |Treasury Dept.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added nine individuals to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list under Kingpin Act designations, and removed 15 individuals from the list under counterterrorism designations, OFAC said (here).

OFAC Adds to SDN List
October 21, 2016 |Treasury Dept.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added five individuals and one entity to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under transnational counter-terrorism designations, OFAC said (here).

DOJ Issues Guidance on Voluntary Self-Disclosures for Export Control, Sanctions Violations
October 18, 2016 |Penalties and Courts

The Department of Justice recently outlined its policies on remediation of penalties for willful export controls and sanctions violations when a company submits a voluntary self-disclosure (VSD). A guidance document (here) issued in early October sets forth the criteria DOJ’s National Security Division “uses in exercising its prosecutorial discretion in this area,” as well as “the possible benefits that could be afforded to an organization that makes a voluntary self-disclosure.” The guidance document directs companies to continue to submit VSDs to the relevant agency -- the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls or the Office of Foreign Assets Control, depending on the violation -- and if the violation was willful, to also submit the VSD to the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) of the National Security Division.