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ARTICLE · 12 FEBRUARY 2016

First Step To Re-Engagement: Canada Rolls Back Iranian Sanctions

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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Perhaps Canada's most significant changes are its removal of its broad financial services prohibitions, as well as the prohibition on making investments in Iranian based entities.

CanadaInternational Law
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Roy Millen
Roy Millen
Vladimir Shatiryan
Vladimir Shatiryan
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In an abrupt reversal of the trend of increasing sanctions against Iran, which Canada has followed since 2011, the Government of Canada announced on February 5, 2016, that it would be implementing significantly less stringent restrictions against trade with, and investment in, Iran. 

The announced amendments to the regulations that impose Canadian sanctions against Iran under the Special Economic Measures Act and the United Nations Act come on the heels of the January 16, 2016, confirmation by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran satisfied the commitments it made pursuant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA), a program intended to ensure that the Iranian nuclear program is not used for the development of nuclear weapons. While the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — agreed to ease their nuclear sanctions in consideration of Iran's compliance with the

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