US Lifts Remaining Sanctions On Burma

On October 7, 2016, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the termination of all remaining financial and trade sanctions against Burma (aka Myanmar). The removal of sanctions followed a visit to the US by Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and was the culmination of several rounds of sanctions relief provided over the past few years in recognition of the country's progress toward political liberalization. Accordingly, as of October 7, 2016, the Burmese Sanctions Regulations (31 C.F.R. Part 537) (BSR) are no longer in effect and there are no country-specific sanctions on Burma.

This means, among other things, that:

The US has unblocked 111 Burmese individuals and entities and removed them from OFAC's list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) and Blocked Persons; All property and interests in property blocked pursuant to the BSR are unblocked; The prohibition on the import into the United States of jadeite and rubies mined and extracted from Burma has been revoked; All OFAC-administered restrictions under the BSR program regarding banking or financial transactions with Burma are no longer in effect; and Compliance with the US State Department's Responsible Investment Reporting Requirements is no longer required and is now voluntary. However, the lifting of the Burma country sanctions does not affect other US sanctions programs, such as those targeting persons engaged in narcotics trafficking, or in the provision of support to the North Korean regime. Accordingly, conducting sanctions due diligence remains critical to reducing risk in any business involving Burma.

Overview of the historical Burma sanctions

The Burma sanctions program dates back to May 1997, when then-President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 13047, declaring that Burma presented an "extraordinary threat" to US security and imposing certain restrictions on trade. Several other executive orders and legislation followed, including the Burmese Freedom Democracy Act of 2003 (50 U.S.C. 1701) and the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-286) (the JADE Act).

The resulting BSR prohibited "US Persons"1 from engaging in a wide range of conduct with respect to Burma, including:

Prohibitions on dealings with blocked persons, including Burmese government officials, individuals determined to have committed human rights abuses and facilitated public corruption, supporters of the Burmese government, and the spouses...