Cleary International Trade and Sanctions Watch

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By: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Blog Authors

Arnaldo Bernardi
Amélie Champsaur
Alexander Galicki
Alexis Collins
Christine Barthelemy
Cleary Gottlieb
Chinyelu Lee
Daniel Ilan
Edward Crane
François-Charles Laprévote
Guillaume de Rancourt
Jean‑Yves Garaud
Katherine Mooney Carroll
Ling Huang
Marie-Astrid Dossche
Matthew Fisher
Nicholas Amin
Nathanael Kurcab
Polina Lyadnova
Paul Marquardt
Silvia Branca
Sujin Chan-Allen
Samuel H. Chang
Sunil Gadhia
Sarah Haddad
Sameer Jaywant
Till Müller-Ibold
Zheng (Jonathan) Zhou

Latest from Cleary International Trade and Sanctions Watch

Today the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued new general licenses (GL) 3C (amending GL 3B) and GL 9B (amending GL 9A) and amended previously issued FAQ 661 and FAQ 662.  The changes clarify that U.S. persons remain prohibited from purchasing or investing in listed GL 3C (GL 3C Bonds) or pre-sanctions PdVSA debt and equity (PdVSA Securities) and that OFAC’s facilitation prohibitions apply to such purchases other…
On February 1, 2019, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued FAQs providing guidance on the designation of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. under Executive Order 13850 and concurrent issuance of related general licenses. OFAC also issued amended general licenses governing secondary trading of pre-sanctions Government of Venezuela and PdVSA debt (General License (“GL”) 3B and 9A). Highlights of the new OFAC guidance and license amendments include that: holders of the PdVSA…
OFAC has clarified that, pursuant to the terms of General License 14 and General License 16, it still expects all U.S. persons who participated in transactions with United Company Rusal PLC, EN+ Group PLC, JSC EuroSibEnergo, or their subsidiaries in reliance on the general licenses during the period when these entities were SDNs (April 6, 2018 through January 27, 2019) to file reports with OFAC.  The delisting of these entities does not terminate the…
On January 28, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.; effective immediately PdVSA is on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List and all of its assets within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked. Simultaneously, OFAC issued a number of general licenses intended to mitigate the impact of this designation outside of Venezuela by providing limited authorization for certain transactions and activities related to PdVSA and…
On November 14, 2018, almost a year and a half after the British public voted to exit the EU, the UK and EU reached agreement on the terms of separation manifested in a draft Withdrawal Agreement.  This draft text updates an earlier version published in March 2018. Subsequently, on November 22, the EU and UK published the accompanying draft Political Declaration that sets out key principles of the future relationship.  On November 25, the…
On November 28, 2018, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) identified for the first time digital currency addresses associated with sanctioned persons.  The newly sanctioned individuals, Iran-based Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan, were accused of converting digital currency payments into Iranian rial as part of a widespread ransomware scheme.  Since 2015, the ransomware scheme (known as “SamSam”) has infected the data networks of corporations, hospitals, universities, and government agencies.  According…
Over the past few months a number of developments have highlighted the growing pressure in favour of reactive sanctions implementation in the EU and the UK. New EU chemical weapons sanctions regime On October 15, 2018, the Council of the EU adopted a new programme of restrictive measures (Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1542). Where necessary to address the use or proliferation of chemical weapons, the EU is now able to impose asset freezes and travel bans…
In recent years, sanctions have become one of the issues of greatest concern for parties entering into international transactions. As a result, detailed contractual clauses designed to manage sanctions risks have become commonplace. The October 2018 judgment of the High Court in Mamancochet Mining v. Aegis Managing Agency[1] (the “Judgment”) has highlighted certain pitfalls in the standard wording of some sanctions clauses, and should be heeded by any party seeking to contractually protect itself…