According to this article in the New York Times, the Obama administration announced today more easing of the sanctions against Syria, stating that it would begin expedited case-by-case consideration of export licenses to Syria:

The move will particularly affect “requests to export products related to information technology and telecommunication equipment and parts and components related to the safety of civil aviation,” said a State Department spokesman, Andrew J. Laine.

Sanctions on Syria were imposed by Congressional mandate pursuant to the Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003. Section 5 of that Act required the President to block exports of all items on the United States Munitions List and the Commerce Control List to Syria. It also required the President to impose at least two of six specific sanctions set forth in the legislation. The two that he selected were, first, the ban on all exports to Syria other than food and medicine and, second, a prohibition on Syrian aircraft landing in, or overflying, the United States (with the exceptions of aircraft carrying Syrian government officials on government business in the United States).

In implementing the Act and the Executive Order, BIS had considered, on a case-by-case basis license applications to export medical devices, aircraft parts and telecommunications equipment. In February of this year, BIS approved the export of aircraft parts to put two mothballed Syrian Arab Airlines 747s back in service.

Section 5(b) of the Syria Accountability Act permits the President to waive any of the acts required export controls if the President finds that such a waiver is in the interest of national security and reports those reasons to the relevant Congressional committees. Although Andrew Laine’s statement re-affirms the more liberal policy towards aircraft parts and telecommunications, the White House’s statements also suggest that the waiver power may be exercised outside the pre-existing categories of medical devices, aircraft parts, and telecommunications equipment.

One area the the White House should consider further liberalizing would be medical devices and the elimination of a license requirement for exports to Syria of medical devices. Under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (“TSRA”), medical devices could be exported to Syria without a license. Because the Syria Accountability Act only referred to exceptions for “food and medicine,” the prior administration had interpreted this as over-ruling TSRA and as requiring licenses for medical devices, even though it seems likely that the phrase “food and medicine” was simply a sloppy reference to TSRA and not intended to affect the status of medical devices. Use of the waiver procedure under section 5(b) would allow the President to correct this mistake.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) today continued its cage match with Rami Makhluf, the maternal cousin of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and owner of Syriatel, Syria’s largest mobile phone provider. Previously, OFAC has designated Makhluf as an SDN based on the novel (and dubious) theory that Makhluf’s leveraging of his family relationship to al-Assad to obtain improper business advantages for himself in Syria threatens the security of the United States.

Today OFAC designated two of Makhluf’s most visible business enterprises as SDNs — Syriatel and Ramak Duty Free, a chain of duty free stores that includes Damascus Duty Free at the Damascus International Airport. As a result of that designation, U.S. citizens are prohibited from doing business with either entity. (OFAC’s press release on the designation can be found here.)

This may catch many Americans traveling to Syria unaware. The Damascus Duty Free at the airport is reputed to have a large selection of goods at attractive discounts and is popular among travelers departing the airport. The State Department’s guidance page on travel to Syria has not yet been updated to reflect this new restriction, stating only that, because Syria is a designated state sponsor of terrorism, U.S. citizens “are prohibited from engaging in financial transactions which a U.S. person knows or has reasonable cause to believe pose a risk of furthering terrorists’ acts in the United States.”

Americans traveling in Syria with unlocked GSM phones might also violate the sanctions if they bought a pre-paid SIM card from Syriatel for use in Syria. Buying telcom services from Syriatel is arguably exempt under the Berman Amendment, but the purchase of the hardware — the SIM card — arguably could overstep the line.

One major American company is currently providing service to Syriatel. Network Solutions is the registrar for syriatel.com, which, as of this posting, was still functioning. Given the increased penalties for violating U.S. sanctions laws, it won’t be surprising if that website disappears shortly.