Office of Foreign Assets Control January 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to further implement elements of the policy announced by the President on December 17, 2014 to engage and empower the Cuban people. These amendments remove certain payment and financing restrictions for authorized exports and reexports to Cuba of items other than agricultural items or commodities and further facilitate travel to Cuba for authorized purposes by allowing blocked space, code-sharing, and leasing arrangements with Cuban airlines and authorizing additional travel-related and other transactions directly incident to the temporary sojourn of aircraft and vessels. These amendments also authorize additional transactions related to professional meetings and other events, disaster preparedness and response projects, and information and informational materials, including transactions incident to professional media or artistic productions in Cuba.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR) to implement certain United States Government (USG) commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached on July 14, 2015 between the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the European Union (EU), and Iran. In particular, OFAC is adding to the ITSR general licenses authorizing the importation into the United States of, and dealings in, certain Iranian-origin foodstuffs and carpets and related transactions to implement the USG commitment set out in section 5.1.3 of Annex II and section 17.5 of Annex V of the JCPOA. In addition, to reflect the USG's implementation of its commitment set out in section 4 of Annex II and section 17.4 of Annex V of the JCPOA to terminate Executive Order 13622 of July 30, 2012, OFAC is removing regulatory provisions that implemented the blocking sanctions in sections 5 and 6 of Executive Order 13622. OFAC is also making certain technical and conforming changes to its regulations to reflect the implementation of the USG commitment set out in section 4.8.1 of Annex II and section 17.3 of Annex V of the JCPOA to remove the individuals and entities set forth in Attachment 3 to Annex II of the JCPOA from OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, the Foreign Sanctions Evaders List, and/or the Non-SDN Iran Sanctions Act List, as appropriate, on Implementation Day of the JCPOA.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is publishing the names of two individuals and one entity whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) (21 U.S.C. Sections 1901-1908, 8 U.S.C. Section 1182). Additionally, OFAC is publishing an update to the identifying information of one individual currently included in the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List).