US export control and sanctions regulations have come under heightened scrutiny and are subject to review on many levels since the new administration took office in January this year. Among recent significant changes are the lifting of sanctions against Syria by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the parallel review of the current export controls on Syria by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
As businesses look to enter or open new markets in Syria, we offer a brief overview over the current legal landscape as of July 21, 2025, and what to expect in the near future.
OFAC-administered sanctions
On May 13, 2025, President Trump announced he would lift sanctions on Syria. OFAC took action shortly thereafter by issuing Syria General License (GL) 25, which authorizes transactions prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 542, the SSR). Simultaneously, the State Department issued a 180-day sanctions waiver.
On June 30, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14312 (“Providing for the Revocation of Syria Sanctions”), which terminated the national emergency declared in EO 13338 of May 11, 2004, and revoked that order along with EO 13399 of April 25, 2006; EO 13460 of February 13, 2008; EO 13572 of April 29, 2011; EO 13573 of May 18, 2011; and EO 13582 of August 17, 2011; all of which formed the SSR’s foundation.
As a result:
- US persons are no longer prohibited from engaging in transactions previously prohibited solely by the SSR;
- The 581 individuals and entities blocked solely pursuant to the above EOs were removed from OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, and all property and interests in property of such persons are unblocked; and
- The SSR were lifted in their entirety and will be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations.
Additionally, EO 14312 expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in EO 13894 of October 14, 2019, as amended in and relied on for additional steps taken in EO 14142 of January 15, 2025, and further amended EO 13894, thereby creating a legal framework to “ensure meaningful accountability for perpetrators of war crimes, human rights violations and abuses, and the proliferation of narcotics trafficking networks in and in relation to Syria during the former regime of Bashar al-Assad and by those associated with it.” Through these amendments, OFAC’s Syria-related Sanctions Program has become the Promoting Accountability for Assad and Regional Stabilization Sanctions (PAARSS) program. Designations pursuant to this program will be marked with the sanctions program identifier “[PAARSSR-EO13894]” in their respective SDN List entries. With the issuance of EO 14312, OFAC designated 139 individuals and entities previously designated under the SSR pursuant to the new PAARSS program, specifically under section 1(a)(i)(B) of EO 13894 (as amended by EO 14312).
OFAC’s revisions to the SDN List were published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2025.
BIS export controls
EO 14312 also waived the requirements to impose certain export controls under the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.
However, as of July 21, 2025, all BIS export controls on Syria, including the comprehensive embargo on Syria (Section 746.9 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR)), are still in effect. Yet, in early June 2025, during an open-session meeting of the Commerce Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) on current regulatory developments, BIS announced that it is currently working on a rule (or several rules) to lift the comprehensive Syria-specific export controls in the EAR.
On July 8, 2025, BIS submitted a final rule titled “Relaxing export controls for Syria” for regulatory review to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Once the rule clears the OMB process, it will take effect upon publication in the Federal Register. Given how clear President Trump has been in his desire to terminate the Syria embargo and the White House’s June 30th announcement that “President Trump is now fully delivering on that promise by taking bold action to implement the termination of the Syria sanctions program,” companies should expect the new BIS final rule to be issued very soon.
The extent of the final rule’s changes remains unclear as BIS shared scant details at the RPTAC meeting. Nonetheless, we expect Syria will no longer be in Country Group E (embargoed countries listed in Supp. No. 1 to EAR Part 740) or be subject to Anti-Terrorism (AT) controls (EAR §742.9).
Legal and practical implications
Recent Changes to Not Absolve Prior Violations
The SSR’s revocation does not terminate or halt pending or future OFAC investigations or enforcement actions for violations occurring prior to July 1, 2025. The statute of limitations for OFAC-administered sanctions was recently extended to ten years, meaning, as of the date of this alert, OFAC theoretically may investigate and pursue enforcement actions for violations dating to 2015.
Some Sanctions and Export Controls Will Remain in Force
As a result of EO 14312, US persons are no longer prohibited from engaging in transactions previously prohibited solely by the SSR, i.e., the prohibitions formerly administered by OFAC. Importantly, the SSR’s revocation does not excuse a US person from complying with other OFAC sanctions, including prohibitions against transacting with Syrian or other individuals, groups, or entities designated under programs that are not country-specific, such as those relating to terrorism and narcotics trafficking.
SDN designations under these and other sanctions programs still have teeth, as does OFAC’s 50% Rule, which extends sanctions to any entity that is 50% or more owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more SDNs, individually or collectively, even if such entity is not named on the SDN List.
Moreover, the EAR’s Syria controls remain in effect pending the forthcoming BIS final rule. Some controls may persist after the new rule takes effect. US persons and non-US persons therefore still must comply with the EAR, including with §746.9, and may need to obtain BIS licenses required to export or reexport to Syria certain items (commodities, software, and technology) on the Commerce Control List, Supp. No. 1 to part 774 of the EAR.
When Entering a New Market, Increased Due Diligence Reduces Risk
As a practical matter, Syria’s government, legal system, and economy are in a state of flux and many industries have not traded with Syria for decades. Businesses looking to enter markets in Syria will need to both adapt to a changing local environment and develop new relationships with suppliers, distributors, customers, shipping companies, and customs and other Syrian government officials.
Each new relationship poses a potential risk of entanglement with individuals and entities that may themselves be subject to sanctions, such as SDNs or entities listed on BIS’s Entity List or other restricted parties lists. Moreover, US and European businesses should assume that parties from other countries targeted by sanctions, e.g., Iran and Russia, will cultivate presences in Syria as a means to evade those sanctions. Western businesses should be mindful that entanglement with such parties may trigger severe enforcement consequences from the United States. OFAC’s 50% Rule and a similar rule for export controls that BIS may issue in the near future only add to that risk.
Accordingly, businesses should exercise increased caution when entering the Syrian market. As executives and sales teams develop and cultivate leads in Syria, companies should avoid entering any contracts or transactions, such as accepting orders or payments, before completing (and documenting) increased due diligence. Best practices include:
- Obtaining beneficial ownership and banking information for customers, distributors, freight forwarders, and other vendors involved in the value chain, including by issuing beneficial ownership questionnaires and requiring copies of valid business licenses;
- Employing dynamic screening of such parties and their owners using commercially available screening tools;
- Seeking and reviewing open-source information (e.g., news articles, social media posts, trade publications, etc.) regarding all such parties and owners and documenting search results, including the absence of any derogatory information;
- Reviewing internally held information about prospective customers, distributors, vendors, the market, its players, and the company’s relevant product lines to identify any derogatory information or discrepancies with other externally sourced information;
- In the absence of any derogatory information, requiring customers, distributors, and other external parties as appropriate to complete written certifications (e.g., end-user or distributor certificates). Note: Such certifications and other written assurances offer little protection in cases where companies fail to perform sufficient diligence in the first instance or where they discover but fail to resolve derogatory information or red flags.
Contract Flexibility Will Allow Businesses to Adapt to New Regulatory Changes
Lastly, as sanctions and export controls continue to ease and the new government in Syria takes shape, the Syrian market will expand and evolve. The US government will continue to monitor developments for potential threats to its national security and foreign policy objectives and likely will act quickly to address such threats, including by resurrecting or implementing new sanctions and export controls. Accordingly, companies should consider building flexibility into business agreements that allow them to react to changes in US law while minimizing breach-of-contract and similar civil liability risks.