One of the first reported cases of compliance uncertainty with sanctions imposed on former Yugoslavia, Serbia: An American satellite Internet feed provider reportedly was unclear how it could comply with the US government sanctions and still provide Internet satellite feed to Yugoslavia. The fears stemmed from Executive Order 13,121, which went into effect on May 1, 1999, after the Kosovo attack. The Executive Order prohibited a range of trade, a broad supply of goods or services, and any related transaction with Serbia and Montenegro. This event raised some of the earliest (but short-lived) political and compliance uncertainty about sanctions and Internet connectivity. In this period, the US issued various general licenses that exempted certain technologies and software from sanctions in Serbia. For a clearer picture and more details, see Jelena Cosic’s research on this topic.
About The Co-Author
Angie Orejuela
Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Diplomacy and focuses her writing on how digital technologies affect global politics.For the past 3 years, she has also worked as a Microsoft Inside Account Manager for the North East, higher education region at SHI International.
