The U.S .Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control recently issued an interim final rule to amend the Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations (RPPR). The amendment will require certain OFAC submissions to be filed electronically, including reports related to blocked property and rejected transactions. It also adds a 10-day reporting requirement for blocked property that is unblocked or transferred and will modify the procedures used for requests related to property blocked in error. OFAC also updated the rules governing the availability of information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for certain categories of records and expanded the scope of the reporting requirement for rejected transactions. The interim final rule also clarifies that a petition for administrative reconsideration may be sought for the removal of a person or property from the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons or other sanction-related lists that OFAC maintains. In addition to certain technical and conforming edits, the amendment also includes a description of certain reports that financial institutions may be required to provide concerning accounts or transactions that meet specific criteria to aid in the identification of blocked property.
The interim final rule will go into effect on August 8, 2024, 90 days after its publication in the Federal Register. OFAC is accepting public comment on the interim final rule for a period of 30 days.