Prohibiting Certain Additional Transactions With Respect to Venezuela
Signed: May 21, 2018
Published: May 24, 2018
Document Number: 2018-11335
📋Summary
This executive order expands U.S. financial restrictions on the Government of Venezuela in response to the Maduro government’s actions and the crisis in Venezuela. It affects U.S. citizens and permanent residents, U.S.-organized companies (including their foreign branches), and anyone conducting transactions within the United States. It bans buying Venezuelan government debt (including accounts receivable), dealing in Venezuelan government debt that is newly pledged as collateral, and transactions involving the Venezuelan government selling or pledging its majority-owned equity stakes in companies. It also prohibits attempts or conspiracies to evade these restrictions and authorizes the Treasury Department (working with the State Department) to issue rules and licenses to implement and enforce the order.
💼Business Impact
This order most directly impacts **financial services (banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, trade finance, factoring)** and any company doing business with Venezuelan state entities like **PdVSA**—including **oil & gas traders, shipping/logistics, commodities, and insurers**—because it bans U.S. persons from buying or financing **Venezuela government debt (including accounts receivable)**, using such debt as **new collateral**, and participating in transactions where the Government of Venezuela **sells/pledges equity** in state-owned (≥50%) entities. Compliance risk rises for routine commercial activity (e.g., receivables purchases, payment terms that look like “debt,” collateral packages, restructurings), and there may be limited opportunities only via **OFAC licenses/exemptions** if issued. Immediate actions: **screen counterparties and beneficial ownership** for “Government of Venezuela” links (including ≥50% state ownership), **halt/avoid** any receivables purchases, debt trading, refinancing, or collateral arrangements tied to Venezuelan government obligations, and **review contracts** for sanctions clauses, termination rights, and payment/credit structures that could be recharacterized as prohibited financing. Businesses should
Full Text
Executive Order 13835 of May 21, 2018
Prohibiting Certain Additional Transactions With Respect to Venezuela
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, in order to take additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13692 of March 8, 2015, and relied upon for additional steps taken in Executive Order 13808 of August 24, 2017 and Executive Order 13827 of March 19, 2018, particularly in light of the recent activities of the Maduro regime, including endemic economic mismanagement and public corruption at the expense of the Venezuelan people and their prosperity, and ongoing repression of the political opposition; attempts to undermine democratic order by holding snap elections that are neither free nor fair; and the regime's responsibility for the deepening humanitarian and public health crisis in Venezuela, hereby order as follows:
Section 1 . (a) All transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in the following by a United States person or within the United States are prohibited:
(i) the purchase of any debt owed to the Government of Venezuela, including accounts receivable;
(ii) any debt owed to the Government of Venezuela that is pledged as collateral after the effective date of this order, including accounts receivable; and
(iii) the sale, transfer, assignment, or pledging as collateral by the Government of Venezuela of any equity interest in any entity in which the Government of Venezuela has a 50 percent or greater ownership interest.
(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the effective date of this order.
Sec. 2 . (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
Sec. 3 . For the purposes of this order:
(a) The term “person” means an individual or entity;
(b) The term “entity” means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;
(c) the term “United States person” means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches of such entities), or any person within the United States; and
(d) the term “Government of Venezuela” means the Government of Venezuela, any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), ( printed page 24002) and any person owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, the Government of Venezuela.
Sec. 4 . The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including promulgating rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to implement this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may, consistent with applicable law, re-delegate any of these functions to other officers and executive departments and agencies of the United States Government. All agencies of the United States Government shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order.
Sec. 5 . This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
Sec. 6 . This order is effective at 12:30 p.m. eastern daylight time on May 21, 2018.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 21, 2018.