InfoBytes Blog
OFAC removes sanctions on International Criminal Court
On July 2, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a final rule removing the International Criminal Court-Related Sanctions Regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations. The final rule is issued pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14022, which was published in April and terminated a national emergency declared in E.O. 13928, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Associated with the International Criminal Court,” which, among other things, authorized the federal government to block the assets and suspend entry into the United States of certain International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members. President Biden issued E.O. 14022 to revoke E.O. 13928, finding that, “although the United States continues to object to the [ICC’s] assertions of jurisdiction over personnel of such non-States Parties as the United States and its allies absent their consent or referral by the United Nations Security Council and will vigorously protect current and former United States personnel from any attempts to exercise such jurisdiction, the threat and imposition of financial sanctions against the Court, its personnel, and those who assist it are not an effective or appropriate strategy for addressing the United States’ concerns with the ICC.” As such, OFAC’s final rule formally rescinds the sanctions regulations effective July 6.