Taking Additional Steps With Respect to the Situation in the Western Balkans
The order amends the existing Western Balkans sanctions framework by replacing its core blocking provision with expanded criteria, adding new categories of sanctionable persons — including spouses and adult children of designated individuals, as well as those who own or control blocked persons.
It builds on a national emergency first declared in 2001 and extended in 2021, tightening the net around those who threaten regional stability, undermine democratic processes, commit serious human rights abuses, or engage in corruption tied to Western Balkans governments.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to block property and property interests of persons who fall within a newly expanded set of designatable categories related to the Western Balkans. The revised blocking provision covers individuals responsible for threatening peace, security, or territorial integrity; undermining democratic processes; violating regional peace agreements (including the Dayton Accords, the Prespa Agreement, and the Ohrid Framework Agreement); committing serious human rights abuses; or engaging in corruption involving Western Balkans governments. It also adds categories for those who own or control blocked persons, those who act on behalf of blocked persons, and — new to this order — spouses and adult children of persons sanctioned under the primary designatable categories.
The order does not itself impose new individual sanctions or declare a new national emergency; it amends Executive Order 14033 of 2021 to broaden who the Treasury Secretary may designate under the emergency framework first established by Executive Order 13219 of 2001. Entry into the United States may also be suspended for designated persons pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act authority cited in the preamble.
Who it affects
Foreign nationals and entities — including government officials, leaders of government bodies, and their adult family members — whose conduct relates to destabilization, corruption, or human rights abuses in the Western Balkans. U.S. persons who hold or transact with the property of designated individuals are also subject to the blocking rules.
Why it matters
Spouses and adult children of sanctioned individuals can now have their U.S.-held assets frozen based solely on their family relationship to a designated person, a significant expansion of who faces potential sanctions exposure. U.S. businesses and financial institutions must screen a wider universe of people for Western Balkans sanctions compliance.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Treasury Secretary, consulting State, retains discretionary authority to designate individuals meeting the new expanded criteria; no automatic designations flow from the order itself. Blocked property cannot be transferred or withdrawn unless Treasury issues a license or regulation authorizing it. The order is self-executing as an amendment — agencies apply the new Section 1 language immediately without further rulemaking — but actual sanctions impact depends on Treasury's future designation decisions.
Actions and deadlines
- Apply the revised blocking criteria when making future Western Balkans sanctions designations