Last week, President Obama, in light of the expiration of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act’s (BFDA) import ban issued an executive order repealing the ban on Burmese imports that was called for by the BFDA and implemented by Executive Order 13310. The new executive order does not lift the ban on Burmese origin jadeite or rubies, or articles of jewelry containing jadeite or rubies. That said, many of the main prohibitions on importation of Burmese origin products have been removed by this action. The move was not much of a surprise as the sanctions against Burma have been winding down for quite some time and, as noted previously, the BDFA’s import ban was expiring as well.

Burma’s an interesting case as the legal framework around it is so intertwined between various statutes, executive orders, general licenses, etc. This becomes quite notable in the preamble of the executive order which invokes those various authorities, specifically singling out The International Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), The National Emergencies Act, the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2008 (the “JADE Act”), 3 USC 301, and Executive Orders 13047, 13448, 13619, 13310, 13448, 13464, and 13619. In short, Burma sanctions are not exactly light reading, and that may explain, at least in part, why the U.S. sanctions program has been so slow to unwind against a country which has received quite a bit of sanctions relief from other nations over the last year.

President Obama’s executive order was a big step forward on the issue of Burmese sanctions relief, but it wasn’t the end of the program. In addition to the import ban on jadeite and rubies, there are still a number of parties designated under the Burmese sanctions program with whom U.S. persons can have no dealings with. While the expiration of the import ban in the BDFA helped things along, there is still language in the JADE Act which is preventing a full on removal. Such problems occur when Congress mandates the imposition of certain sanctions, such as the case with Iran. While the President, through powers delegated down to the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), retains great discretion into how to implement those sanctions, and can go quite far in removing sanctions, there may still be some nuances that need Congressional action to be resolved. So when will we see the end to all Burmese sanctions? That remains to be seen.

The author of this blog is Erich Ferrari, an attorney specializing in OFAC matters. If you have any questions please contact him at 202-280-6370 or ferrari@ferrariassociatespc.com.