OFAC Secondary Sanctions Enforcement - Sanctions on Entities Trading in or Transporting Iranian Petrochemicals

Ed. Note: if you’re new to TURBOFAC, please take note that the text string filtration function generally shouldn’t be used for terms such as “ordinarily resident,” “causing” or “new debt”. For research on the meaning of words and phrases such as those, i.e. terms central to the key legal issues in sanctions law that appear on a cross-programmatic basis, you’re typically better off locating and checking the appropriate box in the “Key Legal Issues” search category, which will limit the results to those that have been manually assessed as being relevant for the interpretation of the terms at issue.

Try typing your search term (“ordinarily resident,” “new debt,” or something else) in the “Find a Search Filter” box at the top of the page, and the corresponding “Key Legal Issues” check box will pop up instantly, if one exists. Once you check the box (e.g. “new debt,” with ~55 results), you can always use the text string filtration function to further refine your search (e.g. by typing “invoice” and narrowing the ~55 results to ~10).

Note in addition that the same applies to text string searches such as “14071” (if you’re looking for items related to EO 14071). By typing “14071” in the “Find a Search Filter” field up top, you will be able to instantly narrow the results down to items manually assessed as relating to EO 14071. Ditto terms such as “515.204” or “Iran General License G” (try the “Discrete Legal Provision” search category). Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] with any questions on search results and efficiency.

Please click "Apply Text String Filters" again after clicking the "Close" button immediately below.

TURBOFAC Commentary (223 words)

Notes:

1) Compare with other sanctions imposed by the State Department pursuant to Sec. 3 of 13846, such as China Concord Petroleum Co., Limited, Kunlun Shipping Company Limited, Pegasus 88 Limited, and COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman & Ship Management Co, Ltd. and Secondary Sanctions Enforcement Announcement - Zhuhai Zhenrong Company Limited. Note however this this appears to be the first time that sanctions are imposed pursuant to Sec. 3(a)(v) of EO 13846, which allows for sanctions on any person that "owns or controls a person determined by the Secretary of State in accordance with this section to meet any of the criteria set forth in subsections (a)(i)–(a)(iii) of [Sec. 3 of EO 13846], and had knowledge that the person engaged in the activities referred to in those subsections."

In this case, the rare invocation of the “upstream” sanction (i.e. sanctioning a parent company on the basis of the sections of a subsidiary) appears to be a function of the fact that, while nominally South African, the entity at issue was owned and/or controlled by or otherwise acting on behalf of the Iranian Government, and therefore subject to blocking sanctions pursuant to authorities other than EO 13846. It remains to be seen whether the precedent set in this announcement will spill over into non-Iranian parents of secondarily sanctioned third-country entities.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Secondary Sanctions Enforcement Announcement - Sanctions on Entities Trading in or Transporting Iranian Petrochemicals

TURBOFAC Commentary (223 words)