On February 1, 2024, the United States introduced new sanctions to promote peace in the West Bank, targeting recent actions that jeopardize the region’s stability, including attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks against Israelis. This follows the related visa restriction policy announced by the State Department on December 5, 2023.
The sanctions have
On January 30, 2024, the Department of State announced in a press release that the United States would be reinstating certain sanctions actions on Venezuela in light of recent activities by President Nicolás Maduro and his regime, including the recent barring of opposition candidates from competing in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election.
In October 2023, the
The “S” in “ESG” (environmental, social, and governance) includes an extensive list of factors like workplace culture; environmental justice; health and safety; policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion; labor standards; data privacy; human rights; racial justice; and product safety. In the past several years, consumers and shareholders have become increasingly focused on company performance in
On January 26, 2024, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a Supplemental Business Advisory highlighting continued risks and exposure of doing business in Burma. In January 2022, the U.S. Departments of State, the Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor and the USTR first published a business advisory on heightened risk of doing business
Effective January 25, 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) again expanded export controls and sanctions against Russia for its continuing aggression against Ukraine and Belarus for its complicity in such activities. In a Final Rule, BIS is expanding the scope of the Export Administration Regulations’ (EAR) Russian and Belarusian
On January 17, 2024, the Department of State announced that it was re-designating Yemen-based Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group. This designation will be effective as of February 16, 2024, when Ansarallah will be placed on the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
On January 18, 2024, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) again extended previous Russia-related General License (GL) 13 by issuing a revised GL 13H, “Authorizing Certain Administrative Transactions Prohibited by Directive 4 under Executive Order 14024,” which states that U.S. persons are authorized to pay taxes, fees, or import
As a reminder to our readers, the annual encryption self-classification report and semi-annual sales report for certain encryption items are due to be filed by February 1, 2024.
The self-classification report covers less sensitive items described under the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) License Exception ENC (b)(1) (i.e.,
On January 16, 2024, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License (GL) 5N, “Authorizing Certain Transactions Related to the Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. 2020 8.5 Percent Bond on or After April 16, 2024,” which continues to delay U.S. persons’ ability to enforce bondholder rights to the CITGO