Monthly Archives: October 2020

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) 5+1 agreement caused lifting majority of the comprehensive sanctions implement against Iran from US and EU starting January 2016. This terminations were not limited with US and EU sanctions, on 20 July 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2231 (2015)  endorsing the JCPoA. “The Security Council affirmed that conclusion of the JCPoA marked a fundamental shift in its consideration of the Iranian nuclear issue, expressed its desire to build a new relationship with Iran strengthened by the implementation of the JCPOA and to bring to a satisfactory conclusion its consideration of this matter.“

In brief explanation the UN sanctions of Iran for the arms restrictions , missile programs restrictions and nuclear restrictions are decided to be terminated one-by-one with a calendar under the condition of fully implementation of the JCPoA terms by Iran.

The termination calendar of UN is as follow,

• Arms restrictions on 18.10.2020,
• Missile-related restrictions, October 2023
• Nuclear-related restrictions, October 2025

Since the US Administration withdrawal from JCPoA on May 2018 and started to implement comprehensive sanctions on Iran the termination calendar has been one of the objections of the US. The first termination arrived without any agreement of US with her counter-parties, and the termination have been implemented as of 18th Oct 2020 by UN for the arms embargo on Iran.

In fact the sanctions are not merely implement by the UN against on Iran. Due to the Executive Order N.13949 (EO) issued 23 Sept.of this year US started to implement a wider sanction for Conventional Arms Activities of Iran. According to the EO;

• To engage in any activity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer, directly or indirectly, to or from Iran, or for the use in or benefit of Iran, of arms or related materiel, including spare parts;
• to provide to Iran any technical training, financial resources or services, advice, other services, or assistance related to the supply, sale, transfer, manufacture, maintenance, or use of arms and related materiel
• to have engaged, or attempted to engage, in any activity that materially contributes to, or poses a risk of materially contributing to, the proliferation of arms or related materiel or items intended for military end-uses or military end-users, including any efforts to manufacture, acquire, possess, develop, transport, transfer, or use such items, by the Government of Iran (including persons owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of the Government of Iran) or paramilitary organizations financially or militarily supported by the Government of Iran

are determined as sanctioned activities. Also any person to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this EO is subject to similar restrictions.

Any person who is willing to act according to the terminated UN sanctions, or other words selling weapons to Iran, are going to face with the US sanctions. Also it is needed to be thought once again that in an environment where the food & pharma companies are not willing to involve in Iran business due to the sanction risk*, expectation of a start in selling arms to Iran is not a match with the reality in the field.

From any perspective, due to the US sanctions – mostly for secondary sanctions- , terminated UN sanctions are not going to be effective. Directly or indirectly there is no effect into the on going comprehensive Iran sanctions of US and the conditions of Iran economy.

*Needless to say that there are general licenses and exemptions for selling agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices to Iran in US sanctions. These licenses involve some restrictive criteria mostly for not to touch any sanctioned party within the trade/ finance transactions.

Abdurrahman ÖZBEK

Ransomware attacks have been increasing in numbers compare to previous years. Beside the common expectation the small-medium sized entities could face with such cases together with multinational companies or financial institutions.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an advisory to alert companies for the potential sanction risk for facilitating ransomware payments.

As mentioned in the advisory “OFAC has imposed, and will continue to impose, sanctions on these actors and others who materially assist, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or technological support for these activities.” and “In particular, the sanctions compliance programs of these companies should account for the risk that a ransomware payment may involve an SDN or blocked person, or a comprehensively embargoed jurisdiction. Companies involved in facilitating ransomware payments on behalf of victims should also consider whether they have regulatory obligations under Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regulations“

It is requested from the ransomware victims to act incorporate with the related authorized parties. Also a license application could be done to OFAC in case of a payment under the ransomware.

Think more than twice for the security of data and we must not forget that there is more than a data problem in ransomware cases, where the party involved in such a crime could be listed under primary or secondary sanctions or from a jurisdiction subject to sanctions as well. Therefore any unwilling transaction to rescue your data may become a sanction case as well.

Abdurrahman ÖZBEK

10 Ocak 2020 tarih 13902 nolu ABD Başkanlık Kararnamesi ile İran’daki imalat, tekstil, madencilik ve inşaat sektörleri yaptırım kapsamına alınmıştır. 08/10/2020 tarihinde ABD Hazine Bakanlığı Yabancı Varlıkları Kontrol Ofisi (OFAC) tarafındna yayınlanan duyuruda 13902 nolu kararname kapsamında İran finans sektörü yaptırıma tabi sektörler içine dahil edilmiş  ve İran’da bulunan 18 banka ikincil yaptırımlar açısından SDN (Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List)  liste alınmıştır . Bunun ile birlikte İran’da ikincil yaptırımlar açısından yasaklı listeye alınmamış banka kalmamıştır.

İran’da bulunan konu 18 banka ile aşağıdaki işlemlerin yapılmasına yasakla eş zamanlı yayınlanan Genel Lisans L kapsamında – diğer yaptırım hükümleri saklı kalmak kaydı ile-  istisna tanınmaktadır;

1. İran’a tarım ürünü, ilaç ve medikal ekipman ihracatına yönelik işlemler,
2. İran’da “İlaç, medikal ekipman, bebek bezi, temizlik ürünleri , hijyen ürünleri, sabun, el dezenfektanı, solunum cihazı, vantilatör, iş güvenliği ekipmanı” üretimine yönelik her türlü tedarik, satış ve transfer işlemi. (Bu istisna 16 Nisan 2020 ve 5 Haziran 2020 tarihlerinde İran’daki imalat sektörüne getirilen istisnaların İran finans sektörü ile yapılacak işlemler için devam ettiğine işaret etmektedir.)

2. maddedeki istisnaların geçerli olabilmesi için İran’da üretimi yapılan bu malzemelerin İran’dan ihraç edilmemesi; sadece İran yerel pazarının ihtiyaçlarına dönük olması gerekir. Yukarıda belirtilen istisna kapsamına girmeyen işlemler için 45 günlük wind-down periyodu belirlenmiş olup; sürenin sona erdiği 22 Kasım 2020 öncesinde OFAC tarafından teknik detayları içeren rehber doküman yayınlanacaktır.   

Önemli Not. Konu yazı notu genel bilgilendirme için olup; yürürlükteki uluslararası yaptırım kuralları gereği her iş talebinin kendi özelinde diğer yaptırım hükümleri de göz önüne alınarak yorumlanması gerekir.

İlgili Ofac duyurusunun tam metni

Genel Lisans L

ABDURRAHMAN ÖZBEK