OFAC centralizes sanctions penalties, drops Syria license

WASHINGTON, September 24, 2026 — The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control consolidated sanctions enforcement procedures and penalties into a new regulation, a structural change intended to standardize provisions now spread across multiple programs.

The new Sanctions Penalties Regulations, codified at 31 CFR Part 505, bring together existing information on penalties, enforcement procedures and the rights of US persons investigated for violations. The initial rule covers sanctions issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the United Nations Participation Act.

OFAC said the rule makes no substantive changes to the penalty provisions. The agency plans to replace existing language across its regulations with cross-references to the new part, resulting in the deletion of more than 100 subparts. For compliance teams, the change centralizes where key enforcement procedures and penalty information are maintained without changing program-specific prohibitions, definitions or licenses.

Under the consolidated provisions, violations governed by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act can draw civil penalties of up to the greater of $377,700 or twice the value of the underlying transaction. Base penalties are halved when OFAC learns of a violation through a voluntary self-disclosure.

In a separate final rule, OFAC removed and reserved a Syria-specific general license in the Terrorism List Governments Sanctions Regulations. The authorization was no longer necessary after the State Department rescinded Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, effective Aug. 24, meaning Syria is no longer a Terrorism List Government for purposes of those regulations.

OFAC also reported receiving 11 applications from April through June for licenses to export agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices to Iran. It issued eight licenses and one amendment during the quarter, with no applications denied.