On April 19, 2021, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued Belarus General License 2H (“GL 2H”) revoking General License 2G (“GL 2G”), which was due to expire on April 25, 2021.

For more than five years, OFAC regularly extended GL 2 G, and earlier versions of it, authorizing U.S. person activity with the following nine sanctioned Belarusian companies:

  • Belarusian Oil Trade House
  • Belneftekhim
  • Belneftekhim USA, Inc.
  • Belshina OAO
  • Grodno Azot OAO
  • Grondo Khimvolokno OAO
  • Lakokraska OAO
  • Naftan OAO
  • Polotsk Steklovolokno OAO

The new GL 2H will end this authorization, allowing only a 45-day wind down period for transactions “ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down” of transactions involving these nine entities and entities in which they own a 50 percent or greater interest.  The wind down ends at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on June 3, 2021.

The general license does not authorize the unblocking of property, nor transactions or activities that are otherwise prohibited.  Authorized transactions of more than $50,000 by U.S. persons must be reported to the State Department.

Thus far, these actions are U.S. only.  There has been media speculation that the E.U. or U.K. might take similar actions, but to date they have not yet announced any actions.

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Photo of Dj Wolff Dj Wolff

David (Dj) Wolff is the co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a director with C&M International, the firm’s trade policy affiliate.

At Crowell & Moring, he serves on the steering committee for the International Trade Group, where his practice focuses

David (Dj) Wolff is the co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a director with C&M International, the firm’s trade policy affiliate.

At Crowell & Moring, he serves on the steering committee for the International Trade Group, where his practice focuses on all aspects of compliance with U.S. economic sanctions, including day-to-day compliance guidance, developing compliance programs, responding to government inquiries, conducting internal investigations, and representation during civil and criminal enforcement proceedings. Dj works regularly with non-U.S. clients, both in Europe and Asia, to evaluate the jurisdictional reach of U.S. sanction authorities to their global operations, identify and manage the potential conflict of laws that can result from that reach, as well as to support client’s design, implementation, and evaluation of a corresponding risk-based sanctions compliance program. Dj also regularly leads teams in diligence efforts on trade and related regulatory areas on behalf of his U.S. and non-U.S. clients in the M&A arena, having successfully closed more than 30 deals with an aggregate valuation of several billion dollars over the last 18 months.

Dj is ranked by Chambers USA in International Trade: Export Controls & Economic Sanctions. He has previously been recognized by Law360 as a Rising Star in International Trade (2020), by The National Law Journal as a “DC Rising Star” (2019), by Who’s Who Legal: Investigations as a “Future Leader” (2018 and 2019), Acritas Star as an Acritas Stars Independently Rated Lawyers (2019), by Global Investigations Review as one of the “40 under 40” in Investigations internationally (2017), and WorldECR as one of the five finalists for the WorldECR Young Practitioner of the Year award (2016).

Photo of Carlton Greene Carlton Greene

Carlton Greene is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s International Trade and White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement groups. He provides strategic advice to clients on U.S. economic sanctions, Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering…

Carlton Greene is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s International Trade and White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement groups. He provides strategic advice to clients on U.S. economic sanctions, Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations, export controls, and anti-corruption/anti-bribery laws and regulations. Carlton is the former chief counsel at FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), the U.S. AML regulator responsible for administering the Bank Secrecy Act.