Magnitsky Act Regs Expanded, Uyghur Act Incorporated

OFAC is amending and reissuing the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations as a more comprehensive set of regulations that includes additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public.

As well, OFAC is adding the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, as amended. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Regulations in their entirety.

The Regulations were initially issued in abbreviated form (in 2018) for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC is revising the Regulations to further implement the Global Magnitsky Act and E.O. 13818.

Current Regulatory Action

To further implement the Global Magnitsky Act and E.O. 13818, OFAC is amending and reissuing the Regulations. The Regulations implement targeted sanctions that are directed at persons determined to meet the criteria set forth in § 583.201(a) of the Regulations, as well as sanctions that may be set forth in any further Executive orders issued pursuant to the national emergency declared in E.O. 13818.

The sanctions in E.O. 13818 do not generally prohibit trade or the provision of banking or other financial services to a certain country. Instead, the sanctions in E.O. 13818 apply where the transaction or service in question involves property or interests in property that are blocked pursuant to these authorities.

The names of persons designated or identified as blocked pursuant to E.O. 13818, or any further Executive orders issued pursuant to the national emergency declared therein, are published on OFAC’s SDN List, which is accessible via OFAC’s website. Those names also are published in the Federal Register as they are added to the SDN List.

Sections 583.202 and 583.203 of subpart B detail the effect of transfers of blocked property in violation of the Regulations and set forth the requirement to hold blocked funds, such as currency, bank deposits, or liquidated financial obligations, in interest-bearing blocked accounts. Section 583.204 of subpart B provides that all expenses incident to the maintenance of blocked tangible property shall be the responsibility of the owners and operators of such property, and that such expenses shall not be met from blocked funds, unless otherwise authorized. The section further provides that blocked property may, in OFAC’s discretion, be sold or liquidated and the net proceeds placed in a blocked interest-bearing account in the name of the owner of the property.

Section 583.205 of subpart B prohibits any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in section 583.201 of the Regulations, and any conspiracy formed to violate such prohibitions.

Section 583.206 of subpart B details transactions that are exempt from the prohibitions of the Regulations pursuant to section 203(b) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)).

Section 583.411 of subpart D explains that the property and interests in property of an entity are blocked if the entity is directly or indirectly owned, whether individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more persons whose property and interests in property are blocked, whether or not the entity itself is incorporated into OFAC’s SDN List.

Transactions otherwise prohibited by the Regulations but found to be consistent with U.S. policy may be authorized by one of the general licenses contained in or issued pursuant to subpart E of the Regulations or by a specific license issued pursuant to the procedures described in subpart E of 31 CFR part 501.

The full revised regulation can be viewed [here] FR Document: 2024-05207