The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a reminder to industry to file annual reports on blocked property by Sept. 30. The notice applies to blocked property held as of June 30.

Significant changes to Canadian sanctions laws took effect last month, including a new deemed ownership provision that could force companies to update their sanctions due diligence procedures, Bennett Jones said in a June client alert. Companies should “evaluate their current procedures in light of these new amendments, and think about how due diligence on prospective new transactions or business relationships may need to be updated,” Bennett Jones said of the changes, which took effect June 22.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted 15 entries and updated three others on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The deleted entries were sanctioned for counter-narcotics reasons and for ties to Venezuela. The agency didn’t release more information.

The State Department recently maintained the foreign terrorism designations of ISIL-Libya and the Real IRA and added new aliases for each, the agency announced this week. The State Department said ISIL-Libya also uses the alias Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham in Libya as its primary name, and the Real IRA uses the alias New Irish Republican Army as its primary name.

The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on June 26 added new “licensing grounds” to its Belarus sanctions guidance. The guidance includes a table listing all activities that may be authorized by a license, ranging from import and export transactions; technical assistance services; brokering services to financial services; and more.

The U.S. and U.K. published a joint guidance this week to “provide additional clarity” on what types of humanitarian aid and transactions related to “food security” are authorized under their respective Russian sanctions programs. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said humanitarian groups, nongovernmental organizations, financial institutions and others involved in the agricultural or medical supply trade should use the seven-page document as a “guide when engaging in transactions that may be impacted by sanctions.”

The State Department recently added two people as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The designations apply to Arkan Ahmad 'Abbas al-Matuti and Nawaf Ahmad Alwan al-Rashidi, leaders of the Islamic State group.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four companies and one person connected to the sanctioned Russian military group PMC Wagner (Wagner Group) and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. The designations target Central African Republic-based Midas Resources SARLU and Diamville SAU, United Arab Emirates-based Industrial Resources General Trading and Russia-based Limited Liability Company DM, which are involved in “illicit gold dealings” to help fund the Wagner Group. OFAC also sanctioned Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, a Wagner executive who has worked closely with Prigozhin’s entity, Africa Politology, and senior Malian government officials on weapons deals and other activities in Mali.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two Russian Federal Security Service officers recently indicted by DOJ for assisting the Kremlin’s foreign election interference efforts. The designations target Yegor Sergeyevich Popov and Aleksei Borisovich Sukhodolov.

Canada this week announced a new set of sanctions against Iran, designating seven Iranian judges for their role in “gross and systematic human rights violations.” Canada said the judges are “notorious” for issuing death sentences and prison terms following sham trials based on evidence “gathered under torture.” The designations help align Canada’s Iran sanctions regime with those administered by the U.S., the EU and the U.K., the country said.