Cote d'Ivoire -- Sanctions Compliance Regulatory Overview

Basis: UN Security Council Resolutions are legally binding on all UN member states, including Côte d'Ivoire. These resolutions typically impose asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes on individuals, entities, and countries deemed threats to international peace and security (e.g., related to terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, specific regimes like North Korea or Iran).

Asset Freeze: VASPs must immediately freeze any virtual assets (and traditional assets) owned or controlled by designated individuals or entities.

Prohibition: Prohibit making any funds, virtual assets, or economic resources available to, or for the benefit of, sanctioned persons/entities.

Côte d'Ivoire does impose reporting duties on assujettis, but the record collapses two distinct channels. Suspicious-transaction reporting goes to CENTIF-CI under the LBC/FT/FP regime transposed by Ordonnance n° 2023-875 du 23 novembre 2023 (art. 60 of the UMOA uniform law of 31 March 2023). Targeted-financial-sanctions matters — asset freezes, attempted transactions with designated persons — run through the dedicated national SFC machinery created by Décret n° 2024-216 du 17 avril 2024 (mise en œuvre des sanctions financières ciblées liées au FT et au FP), with a Comité de Coordination du Gel Administratif whose composition and functions are set by Arrêté n° 0487/MFB/CAB du 7 juin 2024 and list-dissemination modalities by Arrêté interministériel n° 0482/MFB/MAEIAIE du 28 juin 2024. So CENTIF is not the sole or even the primary addressee for freeze reporting. Additionally, in practice no virtual-asset service provider is subject to any of this in an operational sense, since no PSAV agrément exists in CI.

UN Security Council Sanctions Committees: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/information

The second half is right, the first half is wrong. The general obligation is indeed enshrined in national law: Ordonnance n° 2023-875 du 23 novembre 2023 relative à la lutte contre le blanchiment de capitaux, le financement du terrorisme et le financement de la prolifération transposes the UMOA uniform law of 31 March 2023, and Côte d'Ivoire was the first UEMOA state to transpose it. But Côte d'Ivoire does not implement UN sanctions through 'many' resolution-by-resolution decrees. CENTIF-CI's own complete dated register shows a single consolidated targeted-financial-sanctions framework — Décret n° 2024-216 du 17 avril 2024, plus Arrêté n° 0487/MFB/CAB du 7 juin 2024 (Comité de Coordination du Gel Administratif) and Arrêté interministériel n° 0482/MFB/MAEIAIE du 28 juin 2024 (dissemination of designation lists) — designed to give effect to UNSC designations generically and without fresh national instruments per resolution, alongside the administrative-sanctions regime of Ordonnance n° 2022-237 du 30 mars 2022 and Décret n° 2024-58 du 14 février 2024 (Commission Nationale des Sanctions).

Basis: OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions primarily against targeted foreign countries and regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States.

Extraterritorial Reach: OFAC sanctions can apply to non-U.S. persons (including VASPs) if:

They engage in transactions involving a U.S. person.

They use the U.S. financial system (e.g., USD stablecoins, or routing through U.S.-based entities).

They deal in property or interests in property that come within U.S. jurisdiction.

They engage in activities specifically prohibited by "secondary sanctions."

Sanctioned Persons (SDN List): Prohibit any transactions with individuals or entities on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. All property and interests in property of SDNs that are in the U.S. or come within the possession or control of a U.S. person must be blocked. This extends to virtual assets.

Sanctioned Jurisdictions: Restrict or prohibit transactions involving certain countries or regions (e.g., Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk regions of Ukraine).

Technology & Software: Prohibit the provision of certain technology or software to sanctioned entities/jurisdictions.

Reporting: Report blocked transactions and rejected transactions to OFAC.

OFAC Compliance Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry: https://ofac.treasury.gov/media/2529/download

Basis: The EU implements sanctions to pursue its foreign and security policy objectives, often reflecting UN Security Council resolutions, but also adopting autonomous sanctions (e.g., against Russia, Belarus, specific regimes, terrorism). These are binding on all EU citizens and entities. Given Côte d'Ivoire's historical ties to Europe, many VASPs in the region may have EU connections, clients, or partners.

Asset Freeze: Freeze all funds (including virtual assets) and economic resources belonging to, or owned or controlled by, designated persons, entities, or bodies.

Prohibition: Prohibit making any funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of, designated persons, entities, or bodies.

EU Sanctions Map: https://www.sanctionsmap.eu/#/main (Provides an overview of current EU sanctions regimes)

Basis: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets international standards to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Côte d'Ivoire, through its membership in GIABA (a FATF-style regional body), is committed to implementing these standards. FATF has explicitly extended its recommendations to cover virtual assets and VASPs.

Risk-Based Approach: VASPs must assess and mitigate ML/TF risks, including sanctions risks.

Customer Due Diligence (CDD) & Know Your Customer (KYC): Obtain and verify customer identity, beneficial ownership, and purpose of business relationship.

Transaction Monitoring: Monitor transactions for suspicious activity, including potential sanctions evasion.

Record-Keeping: Maintain records of transactions and CDD information.

Travel Rule: For VA transfers above a certain threshold, VASPs must obtain and transmit required originator and beneficiary information.

Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (FATF): https://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/fatfrecommendations/documents/guidance-vasps.html

Basis: The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) issues regulations and directives for financial institutions within the UEMOA zone (which includes Côte d'Ivoire). These directives incorporate FATF standards for AML/CFT. While direct crypto-specific sanctions regulations from BCEAO are still developing, existing AML/CFT directives apply broadly to entities facilitating financial transactions.

Directive n° 02/2015/CM/UEMOA has been superseded by the UMOA Loi uniforme LBC/FT/FP du 31 mars 2023. In Cote d'Ivoire the currently applicable text is Ordonnance n° 2023-875 du 23 novembre 2023 relative a la lutte contre le blanchiment de capitaux, le financement du terrorisme et de la proliferation des armes de destruction massive, which transposes that uniform law (Cote d'Ivoire was the first UEMOA state to transpose). A UEMOA directive is in any case not directly applicable — it binds only through national transposition.

BCEAO Website: https://www.bceao.int/ (Relevant publications are generally found under "Réglementation" or "Lutte contre le blanchiment de capitaux et le financement du terrorisme").

Role: CENTIF is Côte d'Ivoire's FIU responsible for receiving, analyzing, and disseminating suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and other information related to money laundering and terrorist financing to competent authorities. VASPs fall under its purview for reporting obligations.

CENTIF Côte d'Ivoire Website: https://www.centif.ci/

Cote d'Ivoire's targeted financial sanctions regime is built on United Nations Security Council designations, implemented nationally by Ordonnance n° 2023-875 du 23 novembre 2023 (arts. 89-92 and 175-181 on gel des fonds / sanctions financieres ciblees) and Decret n° 2024-216 du 17 avril 2024 relatif a la mise en oeuvre des sanctions financieres ciblees en matiere de FT/FP, with the Commission Nationale des Sanctions constituted under Decret n° 2024-58 du 14 fevrier 2024. There is no 'UEMOA sanctions list' as such, and Ivorian law does not itself make screening against the OFAC SDN list or EU consolidated list mandatory — those bind Ivorian VASPs only through a US or EU nexus.

Perform real-time and ongoing screening.

Ensure robust KYC/CDD procedures to identify ultimate beneficial owners.

Cote d'Ivoire is not an OFAC-sanctioned jurisdiction: it appears nowhere in OFAC's table of active sanctions programs as of August 2026, so no geo-fencing or IP-blocking obligation arises from any comprehensive US embargo on Cote d'Ivoire. The premise the claim corrects is itself false rather than merely outdated — Cote d'Ivoire was never a comprehensively embargoed jurisdiction; the former Cote d'Ivoire programme was a targeted (listed-persons) regime, not a country-wide embargo.

Refuse to onboard customers identified as residents of sanctioned countries.

Monitor all cryptocurrency transactions for red flags indicative of sanctions evasion (e.g., transactions with known sanctioned addresses, unusual transaction patterns, transactions linked to darknet markets or illicit mixers).

Refuse to process or block any transactions that involve sanctioned individuals, entities, or jurisdictions, directly or indirectly.

Ensure no virtual assets are provided to or for the benefit of sanctioned parties.

Record-keeping: records of customer identification, due diligence and transactions must be retained for TEN (10) years, not five - art. 23 of Ordonnance n° 2023-875 du 23 novembre 2023, transposing art. 23 of the UMOA loi uniforme of 31 March 2023 ('conservent pendant une duree de dix ans, a compter de la cloture de leurs comptes ou de la cessation de leurs relations avec leurs clients').

Suspicious transactions and ATTEMPTED transactions must be declared 'immediatement' to CENTIF-CI (art. 60 of the loi uniforme, transposed by Ordonnance n° 2023-875). Sanctions/targeted-financial-sanctions hits are NOT a CENTIF reporting channel: they run through the targeted financial sanctions regime - Decret n° 2024-216 du 17 avril 2024 (mise en oeuvre des sanctions financieres ciblees FT/FP) and the Commission Consultative de Gel Administratif created by Arrete n° 0487/MFB/CAB du 7 juin 2024.

Fines: Significant monetary penalties for institutions and individuals.

Imprisonment: Individuals involved in serious breaches, particularly those related to terrorism financing or money laundering, can face lengthy prison sentences.

Reputational Damage: Severe harm to a VASP's reputation, leading to loss of customers and business opportunities.

Operational Restrictions: Potential revocation of licenses, prohibition from operating, or limitations on business activities.

International Action: Non-compliance with OFAC or EU sanctions can also lead to direct enforcement action by U.S. or EU authorities, including substantial fines and imprisonment for individuals, even if the primary operations are outside their direct jurisdiction, due to extraterritorial reach.

Cote d'Ivoire does operate a national targeted-financial-sanctions and administrative asset-freeze mechanism, but it is not maintained by CENTIF: it rests on Decret n° 2024-216 du 17 avril 2024 (mise en oeuvre des sanctions financieres ciblees liees au FT/FP), the Commission Consultative de Gel Administratif established by Arrete n° 0487/MFB/CAB du 7 juin 2024, and Arrete interministeriel n° 0482/MFB/MAEIAIE du 28 juin 2024 on the diffusion of TFS designations to reporting entities. Under the loi uniforme (art. 177) freezing decisions are published rather than kept confidential.