By Jennifer Diaz|2015-11-30T12:14:36-05:00May 11, 2015|Best Practices, Cuba, Events, Export, Import, OWIT, Speaking, Tobacco, U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|0 Comments
OFAC Publishes NEW FAQ on Cuba
Today, the Office of Foreign Assets Control published a new updated Frequently Asked Questions Related To Cuba. The last FAQ from OFAC was on January 15, 2015, discussed in this previous post “Revised Cuba Regulations Officially Released“. There are 12 new questions discussed in OFAC’s new FAQ – made easy for your review – as all NEW questions are posted below, with some commentary in italics above the question.
What is an “organization” in the people–to-people context?
- In the people-to-people context, an organization is an entity subject to U.S. jurisdiction that sponsors educational exchanges that do not involve academic study pursuant to a degree program and that promote people-to-people contact. For a complete description of what this general license authorizes and the restrictions that apply, please see 31 CFR § 515.565(b).
Don’t get your personal boat ready just yet.
May an individual authorized traveler use his or her private boat to travel to Cuba?
- A person subject to U.S. jurisdiction engaging in authorized travel pursuant to an OFAC general or specific license may use a personal boat for his or her travel, and the travel of the boat’s crew, to Cuba provided that he or she obtains a license from the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for the temporary sojourn of […]
Revised Cuba Regulations Officially Released
Today, a final rule, opening U.S. trade with Cuba, was published in the Federal Register by the U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Through this Federal Register notice, OFAC has amended its Cuban Assets Control Regulations and the BIS has amended the Export Administration Regulations with a “Support for the Cuban People” license exception. This final rule is effective today, with proposed rulemaking, opportunity for public participation, and delay in effective date deemed inapplicable because this regulation involves a foreign affairs function of the U.S.
Cuban cigars will not be readily available for U.S. consumers to purchase as a result of these changes.
Purchasing a Cuban cigar while in outside the U.S. or online is still prohibited by OFAC. The United States still maintains an embargo on trade with Cuba, which “prohibit any person subject to U.S. jurisdiction from dealing in any “property” in which Cuba or a Cuban national has or has had any interest”. The new changes announced today provide a revision to the regulations and will have a substantial impact on the following areas: travel, telecom, building materials and agricultural equipment, financial services, personal importations.
1. Travel
- Travel to Cuba for tourist related activity is still not authorized. “Specific licenses” will not […]
TOMORROW Updated Cuban Assets Control Regulations Take Effect
Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 515 (the “CACR”), which will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, January 16, 2015, at which time the changes will take effect.
You can review the changes that will be published tomorrow here.
This is important, as it means the changes announced by OFAC tomorrow will be effective as of tomorrow, January 16, 2015, but, the Congressional response to those changes is still unknown.
OFAC is implementing policy changes announced by the President on December 17, 2014, which include “facilitating authorized travel to Cuba by U.S. persons, certain authorized commerce, and the flow of information to, from and within Cuba”.
OFAC also published a number of Frequently Asked Questions pertaining to this regulatory amendment.
Stay tuned, tomorrow, we will go through the changes and what is now legal.
How the OFAC Stole Christmas
Reprinted with permission from Clif Burns of the Export Law Blog.
A spokesman for the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) told Export Law Blog this morning that discussions between OFAC and the North Pole over Santa Claus’s Christmas Eve itinerary had once again broken down and were not expected to be resumed before Santa’s scheduled departure on December 24 at 10 pm EST.
The dispute arose from a dilemma that the U.S. sanctions against Cuba posed for Santa’s planned delivery of toys to children in Cuba. If Santa delivers toys for U.S. children first, there will be toys destined for Cuba in the sleigh in violation of 31 C.F.R. § 515.207(b). That rule prohibits Santa’s sleigh from entering the United States with “goods in which Cuba or a Cuban national has an interest.” On the other hand, if Santa delivers the toys to Cuban children first, then 31 C.F.R. § 515.207(a) prohibits the sleigh from entering the United States and “unloading freight for a period of 180 days from the date the vessel departed from a port or place in Cuba.”
A press release from the North Pole announced that the OFAC rules left Santa no choice but to bypass the children of the United States this Christmas. A spokesman from OFAC warned that if Santa attempted to overfly the United States, his sleigh would be forced to land and his cargo seized. He continued:
We know that the outcome is harsh, but we cannot allow the […]