627. What is the purpose of the Executive Order (E.O.) of September 20, 2018, "Authorizing the Implementation of Certain Sanctions Set Forth in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act"?
Title II of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, as amended (CAATSA), and the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014, as amended (UFSA), provide for the imposition of certain sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation. The E.O. of September 20, 2018 provides authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to the Secretary of the Treasury to take certain actions to further implement those sanctions and directs agencies of the United States Government to take all appropriate measures within their authority to ensure the full implementation of those sanctions.
Specifically, the E.O., among other things, (i) delegates the implementation of listed sanctions menu items in section 235 of CAATSA and section 4(c) of UFSA regardless of whether that agency is delegated the authority to select the sanctions under section 235 of CAATSA or section 4(c) of UFSA, as applicable, and (ii) authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA and relevant provisions of UFSA and CAATSA to carry out the purposes of the E.O. Section 4(c) of UFSA provides a menu of nine sanctions from which the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary of State must select when imposing sanctions on persons pursuant to sections 4(a) or 4(b) of UFSA. Furthermore, section 235 of CAATSA provides a menu of 12 sanctions from which the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary of State must select when imposing sanctions on persons pursuant to sections 224(a)(2), 231(a), 232(a), and 233(a) of CAATSA. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) anticipates promulgating regulations to implement these sanctions.
The E.O. provides for comprehensive implementing and penalties provisions that enable OFAC, among other things, to promulgate regulations and issue administrative subpoenas, licenses, and the full range of civil enforcement actions with respect to sanctions violations.
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1) EO referred to appears to be aimed generally at technical housekeeping issues as a result of the President's delegation to the Secretary of State of various of CAATSA's sanctioning authorities [1]. The EO provides OFAC the ability to enforce and administer the sanctions that State has applied. See generally Executive Order 13849 of September 20, 2018 - Authorizing the Implementation of Certain Sanctions Set Forth in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, and comments thereto, for more on the technical operation of the EO in relation to CAATSA.
One notable aspect of the EO is that it envisions OFAC enforcing, and promulgating regulations defining the scope of, certain sanctions against individual entities that fall short of blocking in severity (e.g. the "prohibit[ing of] any transactions in foreign exchange"). As of 8/2019, however, the entities subject to such sanctions are also blocked, thereby rendering the less severe sanctions theoretical up to this point.
2) Unlike EO 13846, for example, this EO does not appear to implement the statutorily-mandated sanctions in a way that broadens their substantive scope with the use of the President's residual authorities under IEEPA. See Consolidated note on, and comparison of, Sections 1 (a)(iii) and (a)(iv) of EO 13846 (System Ed. Note). However, much like EO 13846, this EO accounts for some, but not all sanctions contained in (Russia-related) Title II of CAATSA.
[1] See Sept. 29, 2017 Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Director of National Intelligence, available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-secretary-state-secretary-treasury-director-national-intelligence.