Even if they’ve never exported or imported a single product, most US businessmen and women are aware of the full trade and commercial embargoes the federal government applies to Cuba, Iran, Syria and, North Korea, the Crimean section of Russia, and the Russian oil sector. But if you engage in US trade, you must also know of the US Prohibited Party Lists, which contain nearly 20,000 names of individuals, businesses and other organizations with which you may not deal, even though they may not be located in, or associated with an embargoed country. In addition, prospective exporters need to follow the partial US sanctions that are applicable to entities in countries such as Belarus, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone.
This law firm has dealt with the evolving embargo/sanctions regulations of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) for over twenty years, as countries like South Africa, Libya, Vietnam and Afghanistan have been delisted as embargo destinations and Syria has been added to the list. We have obtained OFAC transactional licenses authorizing specific exports to embargoed countries, handled OFAC penalty cases, and dealt with the myriad of restrictions as they apply to the individual embargoed nations and Prohibited Parties.