Global Magnitsky Act and EO 13818 (2016, 2017)

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and Executive Order 13818 authorise targeted US financial and entry restrictions for human rights abuse and corruption. They are related authorities with different legal tests. The Act was enacted on 23 December 2016; the order was signed on 20 December 2017 and took effect on 21 December. Neither an administrative designation nor a blocking measure is a criminal conviction. Act, section 1263; EO 13818, sections 1, 2 and 12.

Statute and executive order

The Act, now codified in 22 USC chapter 108, permits sanctions against foreign persons on credible evidence of specified gross human rights violations against people exposing official illegality or exercising protected rights, associated agency conduct, significant official corruption or specified support for corruption. It authorises individual visa restrictions and blocking of property within the United States or the possession or control of US persons. Its blocking authority dispenses with IEEPA's national-emergency requirement but excludes sanctions on the importation of goods under that statutory authority. 22 USC 10102(a) and (b).

EO 13818 separately declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (1977) and other authority. Its criteria include serious human rights abuse without the Act's specified victim categories; corruption involving current or former officials and their agents; relevant leadership, support, ownership or agency relationships; and specified attempts. Section 1(a)(ii) concerns foreign persons; section 1(a)(iii) uses the wider category of any person for specified support, ownership or agency grounds. A decision must be tied to its actual criterion. The order's blocking and entry provisions should not be reduced to a paraphrase of the statute. EO 13818, preamble and sections 1 and 2.

Congress repealed the Act's sunset provision on 8 April 2022. That does not dispense with continuation of the separate executive emergency: the notice signed on 10 December 2025 continued it for one year beyond 20 December 2025. Public Law 117-110, section 6, 136 Stat. 1165; 2025 continuation notice.

Operation and limits

Blocked property cannot be transferred, paid out or otherwise dealt in without applicable authorisation. The prohibition covers providing funds, goods or services to or for a blocked person and receiving them from that person. This is a restriction on dealing with property, not a general transfer of its ownership to the US government. The statutory financial authority is administered by Treasury, while State administers visa sanctions; EO 13818 also expressly suspends entry of aliens meeting its criteria. Financial and immigration measures therefore require separate identification, even where they concern the same person. 22 USC 10102(b) and September 2017 delegation; EO 13818, sections 1, 2, 4, 8 and 9.

Under 31 CFR 583.411, an entity is blocked if blocked persons own, directly or indirectly and individually or together, at least 50 per cent of it, even when it is not separately named on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Control or an official position alone does not automatically block the entity under this ownership rule, although transactions involving the blocked individual remain restricted and a separate designation criterion may apply. 31 CFR 583.411 and 583.412.

Licences remove prohibitions only within their terms and do not automatically authorise conduct restricted by another programme. Part 583 includes conditional authorisations for legal services, emergency medical services, specified official and humanitarian activity and personal non-commercial supplies of agricultural or medical goods. These exceptions do not amount to unrestricted access to blocked funds. 31 CFR 583.502 and 583.507 to 583.513.

Evidence, process and statecraft

The statutory scheme requires consideration of specified congressional and credible external information. It provides a 120-day response procedure for qualifying congressional requests and stated grounds for ending a person's statutory sanctions, with advance reporting to Congress. Those provisions establish decision and accountability procedures; they do not convert the underlying administrative findings into adjudicated criminal facts. 22 USC 10102(c), (d) and (g).

A designated person may seek OFAC administrative reconsideration, submit evidence or arguments, and propose remedial measures. Authorised legal representation does not itself release blocked property or guarantee delisting or success in court. 31 CFR 501.807; 31 CFR 583.507 and 583.508.

The order declares an intention to impose consequences for abuse and corruption and protect the US financial system. The encyclopedia classifies these targeted restrictions as coercive and denying access, with a norm-setting purpose. This describes the instrument's declared mechanism. The legal texts do not establish how much wealth was immobilised, whether counterparties withdrew, or whether an official changed behaviour. Such outcome claims require separate evidence. EO 13818, preamble and section 1.

Currency and scope

This account was checked on 12 November 2026 against the US Code through Public Law 119-138 of 3 November and eCFR material displaying currency of 9 November. It describes the authority, not a current inventory of designated people or licences. Individual status and overlapping sanctions must be checked against the current OFAC programme and list resources. The Russia-focused Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (2012) remains a separate authority. OFAC, Global Magnitsky FAQs, 21 December 2017, page 1.

Sources

• United States Congress, Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Public Law 114-328, subtitle F, 23 December 2016, now 22 USC 10101 to 10103; statutory sunset repealed by Public Law 117-110, section 6, 8 April 2022.
• President of the United States, Executive Order 13818, “Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption”, 20 December 2017, Federal Register 82, 60839, published 26 December 2017.
• US Department of the Treasury, Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 583, accessed 12 November 2026.
• Anton Moiseienko, “Corruption sanctions: What governments need to know”, Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper 62 (May 2026), DOI 10.12685/bigwp.2026.62.1-57. Further reading, not a source of the legal claims above.