Trade Law

On February 6, 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published notice that it was listing 11 named parties as “Foreign Sanctions Evaders,” pursuant to Executive Order 13608 (May 1, 2012) (the FSE List). The FSE List targets individuals and entities that OFAC determines have violated, attempted to violate, conspired to violate or caused violations of U.S. sanctions against Syria or Iran. U.S. persons and companies are prohibited from engaging in transactions with parties included on the FSE List unless the transaction qualifies for an exemption from OFAC sanctions. In addition, the prohibition may in effect extend to foreign subsidiaries and controlled affiliates to the extent there is U.S. parent entity involvement in their transactions.

This development underscores the need for entities to add the FSE List to the collection of other restricted-party lists that must be covered and reviewed in diligence activities and other compliance screening. The FSE List is not currently incorporated into the Consolidated Screening List made available by the U.S. government at www.export.gov. Consequently, entities must take care to ensure that their screening practices, whether conducted manually or in reliance on commercial screening software services, cover this list.