The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has launched on its website a “Reconsideration Portal” for sanction decisions. It will allow individuals included in U.S. sanctions lists to submit requests remotely to be removed from those lists. Through the portal, applicants can also request the text of the decision imposing sanctions against them in order to challenge it.
Individuals on the sanctions lists previously had the right to ask for a review of the decision — for this, they often hired lawyers specializing in sanctions law, Bloomberg explains. According to OFAC, the new portal will make it possible to “simplify the process for submitting requests” and ensure “greater transparency and efficiency.”
Over the past couple of decades, the United States has sharply expanded its use of sanctions as a tool of foreign policy; today, thousands of restrictions are in force in the U.S. affecting individuals, companies, or entire countries, Bloomberg writes. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump promised to lift some sanctions on Iran as part of a final peace agreement and last week issued an initial exemption allowing the sale of Iranian oil. In recent months, the U.S. has also eased some restrictions on Russia (temporarily allowing the sale of oil during the Gulf crisis), Venezuela, and Syria, while simultaneously introducing new measures against Cuba, Bloomberg notes.
Who the portal may be useful for
In the portal’s instructions and FAQs section, OFAC states that it can be used to request a Courtesy Document — information that served as the basis for imposing sanctions. However, some data may be withheld if it is classified, relates to law-enforcement information, or is protected by other exemptions.
OFAC explicitly names two grounds for challenging sanctions: either the circumstances that led to the sanctions are no longer in effect; or there were not sufficient grounds for imposing sanctions in the first place. For example, a person has left a position, a company has been liquidated, activities have been discontinued, or an identification error occurred.
At the same time, OFAC warns that transferring assets to other sanctioned persons or engaging in sham transactions may be treated as “a new violation of sanctions.” If a sanctioned person plans to sell shares, exit a sanctions-related company, or undertake any other restructuring, OFAC advises coordinating such actions with the agency in advance.ㅤ