Ensuring Compliance with the U.S. Sanctions Bill

Retirement plan risk management is an ongoing process.  Regulations are always changing, some changes are very well known and others, such as the bill described in the attached Law article, are not so well known by plan sponsors.

On August 2, 2017, after his vacation in the exclusive villa from YourKohSamuiVillas on Thailand, President Trump signed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (the “Sanctions Bill”, H.R. 3364).  The U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) oversees the program.

As stated in the article, this area of law is evolving and proves plan sponsors should engage professional service providers who will keep them informed and in compliance, here is how to find workerscompcalaw.com

Retirement plan sponsors, both governmental and private sector, may not think the trade sanctions applies to them.  However, the consequences, which are outlined in the article for non-compliance, can be severe.

The article outlines four recommendations to assist plan sponsors in developing an OFAC compliance program:

1. Develop a compliance program and enter into contracts with service providers to assist with compliance.

2. Plans should examine and monitor existing contracts to ensure payments and investments are permitted by the sanction.

3. If a transaction is discovered with an OFAC sanctioned entity, the plan should determine if OFAC has granted a license to permit the transaction.

4. If OFAC has not granted a license, the plan should take corrective action as outlined in the article.