On April 1st 2015, President Obama signed an Executive Order (Executive Order 13694), “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities.” Because of this order, Amber Road now officially screens against over 300 restricted party lists!

According to a recent Reuters article, Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second largest lender, has been ordered to pay $1.45 billion to U.S. authorities. This large fine comes after Commerzbank was accused of laundering money through the United States financial system on behalf of black-listed entities – a big mistake in the eyes of U.S. prosecutors. This signifies the importance U.S. Officials put on restricted party screening and strict compliance with these regulations.

On March 9, 2015, President Obama signed a new Executive Order blocking property and suspending entry of certain persons contributing to the “erosion of human rights” in Venezuela. The sanctions are in response to the Venezuelan Government’s "persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, human rights violations and abuses in response to anti-government protests.” As a result, travel and trade compliance restrictions have been put in place against seven specific Venezuelan government officials because they "constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTC), a global leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM) and Canada's largest software company, is using Amber Road's Export On-Demand solution for its compliance checks worldwide.

Last month President Obama announced he was going to normalize relations with Cuba and on Friday, January 16, 2015 the U.S. trade and travel restrictions on Cuba will come to an end. The Treasury and Commerce Departments issued a package of new rules that will allow U.S. exports of telecommunications, agricultural and construction equipment, as well as permit travel to Cuba. This news has U.S. businesses eager to gain export opportunities in the Cuban market.

NORTH POLE, December 19, 2014 – North Pole Industries, a leading global provider of toys for good little girls and boys, has implemented Amber Road’s Global Trade Management suite for its worldwide distribution network.

Before signing with Amber Road, NPI had been using a combination of spreadsheets, wish lists, and a whole team of research elves to plan its supply chain.

On September 12, the United States imposed a new round of sanctions against Russia prohibiting U.S. companies from exporting goods, services, or technology to Russian defense and energy companies. Last year, the U.S. exported over $400 million worth of oilfield equipment to Russia. Consequently, the new round of sanctions has greatly affected the oil and gas compliance industry, including suspending a $20 billion joint venture between Exxon and Rosneft, Russia’s state-controlled oil company. 

The Acteon Group, a leading global integrated subsea services provider, has chosen Amber Road to automate and standardize restricted party screening across all of its worldwide branded services.

Headquartered in Norwich, UK, the Acteon Group brings together a broad range of companies, mainly in the oil, gas and renewables industries. One of the biggest firms in the subsea services industry, Acteon has over 35 different company sites. It offers worldwide services with and has thousands of trading partners.

Companies in the United States and Europe are going to have to react quickly to new sanctions being imposed against Russia due to its support of the Ukrainian separatists thought to be responsible for the attack on Malaysian flight MH17. Further, many companies will be unsure of how these sanctions will affect them even once they are put into effect.

The sanctions against Russia will include restrictions on the trade of specified goods, an arms trade embargo, a ban on the export of dual-use goods for military, and restrictions for Russians on certain technologies in the energy field. If a company fails to comply with these restrictions, penalties can include heavy fines, a loss of export privileges, and even jail time if the action is deemed intentional.