OFAC Issues General License Covering Non-Regime-Held Portions of Syria

On May 12, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued Syria General License (“GL”) 22, authorizing specific economic activities in certain non-regime-held areas of northeast and northwest Syria. The new authorization is intended to support the Biden Administration’s strategy to promote economic stabilization in areas liberated from the ISIS terrorist group’s control. According to OFAC, stabilization efforts – including restoring essential services, bolstering livelihood opportunities, and providing support for individuals returning from displacement as well as the communities receiving them – are critical components of the Administration’s ISIS strategy.

Under GL 22, private entrepreneurs will be permitted to re-invest in 12 economic sectors in a geographic area of Syria protected by the U.S. or under Kurdish or Turkish control. The authorization does not permit any activity with the Government of Syria or other sanctioned persons and does not alter existing counterterrorism sanctions. The authorization also excludes oil.

OFAC issued five FAQs in connection with GL 22, which are summarized below:

• FAQ 1041 outlines GL 22’s purpose as one that is intended to improve the economic conditions in non-regime held areas of northeast and northwest Syria and support ongoing stabilization efforts in the region.
• FAQ 1042 clarifies that GL 22 does not remove any sanctions on the Assad regime and excludes transactions involving any person, including the Government of Syria, whose property or interests in property are blocked pursuant to the Syrian Sanctions Regulations or the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 (“Caesar Act”) from the scope of the authorization.
• FAQ 1043 clarifies that GL 22 authorizes certain activities in non-regime held areas of northeast and northwest Syria in the following economic sectors: agriculture; information and telecommunications; power grid infrastructure; construction; finance; clean energy; transportation and warehousing; water and waste management; health services; education; manufacturing; and trade. FAQ 1043 also outlines which specific activities fall within these categories.
• FAQ 1044 clarifies that GL 22 authorizes financial institutions to process transactions that are ordinarily incident and necessary to give effect to the activities.
• FAQ 1045 identifies areas of northeast and northwest Syria in which activities described in GL 22 are authorized as of May 12, 2022. It also clarifies that GL 22 does not authorize activities involving persons blocked pursuant to the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (“SySR”), 31 C.F.R. part 542, including the Government of Syria, or persons that may be subject to sanctions under other sanctions programs administered by OFAC (e.g., transactions with blocked persons designated under Executive Order (“E.O.”) 13224, as amended (OFAC’s counterterrorism authority), or E.O. 13894 (OFAC’s Syria-related authority)), unless exempt or otherwise authorized by OFAC.

In addition, OFAC amended FAQ 884 with respect to Syria. According to OFAC, SySR permits non-U.S. persons, including NGOs and foreign financial institutions, to engage in transactions or facilitate transactions and payments for such activity that is authorized for U.S. persons under GL 22, without risking exposure to sanctions under the Caesar Act. OFAC specified that it will not consider transactions to be “significant” for the purpose of assessing sanctions under the Caesar Act if U.S. persons would not require a specific license from OFAC to participate in such a transaction.

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