The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Cubametales, Cuba’s state-run oil import-export company, for importing oil from Venezuela, Treasury said in a July 3 press release. In exchange for the oil, Treasury said, Cubametales provides Venezuela and the Nicolas Maduro regime with “defense, intelligence and security assistance.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added one person and one entity to its Specially Designated Nationals List, OFAC said in a July 2 notice. In Federal Register notices, the State Department said Lebanon-based Husain Ali Hazzima and the Pakistan-based Balochistan Liberation Army are each designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Both pose "a significant risk of committing" acts of "terrorism that threaten” the U.S. or its national or economic security, State said. OFAC also added several aliases for Jundallah, an Iran-based militant organization, which maintained its State Department designation as a foreign terrorist organization (see 1907010011).
the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a reminder for all “holders of blocked property” to submit their Annual Report of Blocked Property by Sept. 30, OFAC said in a July 2 notice. The list should contain all blocked property held as of June 30, 2019, the notice said. Blocked property is that which is blocked "pursuant to OFAC regulations." The reports must be filed using OFAC’s new form TD-F 90-22.50, which is available for download in the notice. Those who do not submit required forms are subject to violations in OFAC's Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations.
The State Department is maintaining a foreign terrorist organization designation on Jundallah, an Iran-based militant organization, according to a notice scheduled to be published July 2 in the Federal Register. The State Department said the circumstances that warranted Jundallah’s original sanctions “have not changed in such a manner as to warrant revocation of the designation.” The State Department is scheduled to publish another notice that lists several new aliases for Jundallah, also known as People’s Resistance Movement of Iran (PMRI), including the Army of God and the Baloch Peoples Resistance Movement.
The United Nations Security Council is renewing sanctions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until July 1, 2020, it said June 26. The sanctions include trade bans on defense items and asset freezes. The council also extended until Aug. 1, 2020, the mandate of the Group of Experts, which provides reports to the council on the potential of additional or updated sanctions.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Nicolas “Nicolasito” Ernesto Maduro Guerra, the son of Nicolas Maduro, for being a government official of the “illegitimate” Venezuelan Maduro regime, Treasury said in a June 28 press release. Treasury said the younger Maduro is a member of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly, which tries to “rewrite the Venezuelan constitution and dissolve Venezuelan state institutions.”
The United Nations Security Council removed 17 entities from its Iraq sanctions list, the council said in a June 24 press release. The entities are no longer subject to asset freezes. The council did not give reasons for the removals in its press release.
The advent of data privacy laws, such as Europe's General Data Protection Regulation, creates a "potential tension" with trade sanctions compliance, said Ramsey Kazem of Spark Compliance Consulting while at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference on June 27. GDPR and other laws in various stages of implementation in U.S. states "tend to be very protective and restrictive on how you use personal data," he said. This may often conflict with sanctions laws, which require companies to do "more with the personal data that they possess in terms of screening their third-parties, screening their business partners, screening their customers," Kazem said. "So it's not difficult to see how the GDPR" and other data privacy restrictions "could conflict with, for example, U.S. sanctions laws." Further complicating the issue for companies is that "neither the U.S. nor the EU recognize the other's laws as a legitimate basis" for not complying, he said. Companies will therefore need to examine the potential risks created by such a conflict, Kazem said. "In some instances there may not be an easy answer and a company may be forced to choose between the lesser of two evils." As a result, data privacy considerations "must be at the table" while a company is developing a sanctions law compliance program, Kazem said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Venezuelan government officials for fraud and corruption, Treasury said in a June 27 press release. OFAC is sanctioning Luis Alfredo Motta Dominguez, former minister of Electric Power and former president of the National Electric Corporation (CORPOELEC), and Eustiquio Jose Lugo Gomez, the deputy minister of Finance, Investments, and Strategic Alliances for the Ministry of Electric Power.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended a Venezuela-related General License and extended the expiration date of two Ukraine-related General Licenses, OFAC said in a June 26 notice. OFAC is amending Venezuela-related General License 13A to extend its expiration date to Oct. 25, 2019, the notice said. Both Ukraine-related General Licenses No. 13L and No. 15F are extended until Nov. 8, 2019, OFAC said. General License No. 15F also includes a new authorization “for certain safety-related activity,” the notice said.