OSFI
On July 5th, 2016, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC’s) Al’Qaida and Taliban regulations update to the sanctions list, removing one individual.
Individuals who are included in the list are subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. The individual delisted was decided following a review, initiated by a request that was submitted to the Ombudsperson. The individual is a German national and has been imprisoned in Germany since 2007.
See the update on the United Nations (UN) website.
OFAC
The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Branch, The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), released three updates last week. The first update, released on July 5th, 2016 was related to the settlement of a potential civil liability for apparent violations of the Iranian and Sudanese transactions and sanctions regulations. The second update was related to the addition of multiple North Korean individuals and entities to the North Korean Designations List. The final update was further clarification to the new Cuba-related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals. The sanctions target countries, regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the U.S.
The settlement on July 5th for apparent violations of the Iranian and Sudanese sanctions was levied against Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Alcon Pharmaceuticals Ltd., and Alcon Management SA. In the course of the investigations, Alcon produced documents and information where it appeared that from August 2008 to December 2011, Alcon violated Iranian sanctions on 452 occasions and Sudanese sanctions on 61 occasions. Alcon engaged in the sale and exportation of medical end-use surgical and pharmaceutical products from the United States to distributors located in Iran and Sudan without OFAC authorization. OFAC determined that Alcon did not make a voluntary self-disclosure and that the apparent violations were not egregious. The statutory maximum civil monetary penalty amount for the Apparent Violations was $138,982,584 USD and the base penalty amount was $16,927,000 USD. Ultimately, Alcon paid $1,317,150 USD.
The North Korean sanctions list update included numerous individuals and entities, some of whom are high-ranking officials with titles such as:
- Director of the Fifth Bureau of the Reconnaissance;
- Director of the Workers’ Party of Korea Propaganda and Agitation Department; and
- Minister of People’s Security.
The update to the Cuba-related FAQs were specific to the issuance of two new questions added, #43 and #50, regarding the use of the U.S. dollar in certain transactions.
See the Enforcement Action update on OFAC’s website.
See the North Korea Designations List update on OFAC’s website.
See the Cuba-related FAQ update on OFAC’s website.
See OFAC’s Recent Actions page.
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