373. Do the prohibitions imposed pursuant to the Directives also extend to entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more entities identified by these Directives, as per revised guidance OFAC issued on August 13, 2014?
Yes, these prohibitions apply to the named persons, their property, and their interests in property, which includes entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more persons identified as subject to the Directives.
On October 31, 2017, OFAC amended and reissued Directive 4 in accordance with Section 223(d) of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) (Pub. L. 115-44). For additional information regarding what amended Directive 4 prohibits, see FAQ #412. The amendments to Directive 4 do not change the applicability of OFAC’s 50 percent rule in the Directive 4 context. The references to "33 percent or greater ownership" and "ownership of a majority of the voting...
1) This FAQ acts as interpretive guidance. That the 50% rule applies to SSI entities is not evident from the face of the directives or the 50% rule guidance. The FAQ suggests that the 50% rule applies in the same manner as it applies in the blocking context ("as per revised guidance OFAC issued on August 13, 2014"), but see FAQ 415 and notes thereto re: aggregation across SSI directives, where the application of the 50% rule in the SSI context differs from the application of the 50% rule in the ordinary blocking context.
2) Concerning the application of the 50% rule in the SSI context, OFAC states the following in the preface to FAQ 398.
*OFAC also applies a 50 percent rule to entities on the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List (SSI List) created in July 2014 in the Ukraine-/Russia-related sanctions context....