Each quarter, we send many of our clients a quarterly trade compliance update, highlighting important developments over the last few months and summarizing key points for important sanctions programs.
Click here to download the quarterly update for April.
Below is a summary of events this past quarter:
- Latest sanctions activity shows a strong focus on the Middle East, especially with regards to Iran, its proxies, and support networks. This ultimately impacts the entire Middle East region, especially with regards to Yemen.
- Trump has very recently called for all oil purchases from Iran to stop completely and threatens the use of secondary sanctions. China, Russia, and India have historically been buyers of Iranian oil products, so many companies there may see the largest risks.
- OFAC has begun to wind down its energy-related authorizations in Venezuela. This will impact several General Licenses and may impact many Specific Licenses.
- The West Bank sanctions program has been officially rescinded and any designations under that program are no longer active.
- BIS continues to add export controls and restrictions related to advanced computing capabilities on China.
About the document: This handy one-pager is designed to be used by our clients to provide a quick reference guide for the complex topics of trade sanctions and export control regulations. The goal is to briefly summarize key points for each program.
This document can be especially useful for non-lawyers and non-compliance officers. Some of our clients distribute the document to the sales and operations teams, or hang it with other legal and compliance material somewhere in the office. Many front-line employees need to know enough about sanctions to identify red flags and then engage legal and compliance as needed. We’ve unfortunately seen unwitting violations due to a lack of education or a lack of reference materials.
If you would like to be on the distribution list going forward, please email Matt Stankiewicz at [email protected]. And if you have any further questions, please reach out!