OFAC Makes "Large Scale" Changes to SDN List

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control today announced that it released an updated version of its list of Specially Designated Nationals ("SDN List"). While OFAC's update did not include any substantive changes to the parties included on the SDN List, the new version of the SDN List makes a number of changes in the format of the list to consolidate duplicate records and to ensure that it conforms to established list standards and to remove duplicate records.

For example, OFAC merged duplicate names into single records with multiple addresses and standardized records to move aliases into a separate "alias field" (e.g., a.k.a.).

A complete list of all changes made to the SDN List can be found here.

OFAC’s various sanctions regulations generally prohibit transaction with parties named on the SDN List. In addition, part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations imposes export and reexport licensing requirements for items subject to the EAR to any party on the SDN List that contains any of the suffixes "SDGT", "SDT", "FTO", "IRAQ2" or "NPWMD".