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Export Controls & Sanctions

Embargo

Also known as: Trade Embargo

An embargo is a government-imposed prohibition on trade with a particular country, region, or regime, usually enacted for foreign-policy or national-security reasons and ranging from comprehensive bans on nearly all commerce to narrower restrictions on specific goods or sectors. Unlike ordinary tariffs, an embargo forbids transactions rather than taxing them, and it can apply to exports, imports, financial dealings, and the provision of services. Because embargoes change with geopolitical events and can capture indirect or third-country dealings, traders must continuously monitor the sanctioned-destinations landscape to avoid prohibited transactions.

The JFS takeLicensed customs broker · Filer 82G

Comprehensive prohibitions on a country, and the strictest thing in this area. There is generally no de minimis and no good-faith defense — the question is only whether the transaction touched the embargoed destination, directly or through an intermediary who did not mention it.

Where it matters for compliance

  • Sanctions liability is generally strict. Screening at onboarding only is not screening.

Related terms

Economic SanctionsEconomic sanctions are restrictions imposed by governments or international bodies on dealings with targeted countries, entities, or individuals to advance foreign-policy and security objectives, enforced in the United States chiefly by the Treasury's sanctions office.Denied Party ScreeningDenied party screening is the compliance practice of checking every party to a transaction — customers, suppliers, banks, freight forwarders, and end users — against government lists of individuals and entities that are sanctioned, debarred, or otherwise restricted from receiving exports.

Reviewed by a licensed customs broker. Definitions are general information, not legal or customs advice for a particular shipment. Duty rates, tariff programs and agency requirements change frequently.