New Sanctions Bill Requires Presidential Certification to Congress Before Granting Waivers to Terror-Designated Entities

The aptly named No Sanctions Relief for Terrorists Act is all about putting up new bureaucratic roadblocks against easing sanctions on foreign individuals and groups previously designated as terrorists. Essentially, it locks down the ability of the Executive Branch—specifically the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)—to grant new special permissions, called licenses or waivers, for transactions involving these entities.

Putting Congress in the Driver's Seat on Sanctions Waivers

What’s the big change? Before any new license or waiver can be issued to someone on the designated terrorist list, the President must now send a formal certification to four key Congressional committees (Foreign Affairs and Financial Services in the House; Foreign Relations and Banking in the Senate). This isn't just a heads-up; the President has to certify that the foreign person or group has “completely stopped participating in terrorism.” If that sounds like a high bar, it is. This provision essentially hands Congress a new level of oversight, making it much harder to quietly grant exceptions to sanctions.

Who This Rule Is Targeting

This restriction specifically targets foreign persons and groups who were already on OFAC’s sanctions list as of January 20, 2021, under Executive Order 13224 (the order dealing with terrorist financing). Think of it as freezing the list of sanctioned entities from that specific date and making it extremely difficult to grant them any new deals or exemptions going forward. For example, if a specific Iranian entity was on that list on that date, any US company or organization seeking a new waiver to do business with them would be blocked unless the President makes that tough certification to Congress.

The Real-World Impact: Less Flexibility, More Oversight

For most people, this bill won't change your daily routine, but it matters a lot in the world of foreign policy and international finance. For US businesses or humanitarian organizations that sometimes need special permission (a waiver) to interact with sanctioned areas—perhaps to deliver aid or conclude a limited commercial deal—this process just got significantly harder. It means less flexibility for the Executive Branch to use targeted sanctions relief as a diplomatic tool. It also means that groups seeking to get off the sanctions list face a much higher hurdle: they need the President to vouch to Congress that they have completely ceased terrorist activity, a standard that is potentially subjective and politically charged.

It’s important to note what this bill doesn’t touch: it explicitly leaves existing general licenses that OFAC had in place as of January 20, 2021, completely alone. General licenses are broad permissions that apply to categories of transactions (like certain humanitarian aid or personal remittances), so those established avenues for interaction remain open. This bill is about stopping new, specific exceptions from being carved out for designated entities.