U.S. President signs bill authorizing sanctions against Nord Stream 2

On 20th December 2019, the U.S. President signed S. 1790, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020,” into law. Section 7503 of S. 1790, entitled “Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act of 2019,” authorizes sanctions against vessels laying pipe at 100 feet or more below sea level for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project and the TurkStream pipeline project (see previous post). The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) 815, which relates to this new sanction.