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Sanctions Targeting Cuba

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The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) announced final rules effective November 9, 2017, implementing the National Security Presidential Memorandum (“NSPM“) “Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba,” signed by President Trump on June 16, 2017.  These final rules are available here and here.  Concurrent with the announcement of the final rules, OFAC and BIS each issued new and updated Cuba FAQs (available here and here).  OFAC also issued a Fact Sheet explaining the amendments resulting from its Final Rule.

Ending several weeks of speculation about a shift in US policy towards Cuba, on June 16, 2017, President Trump announced changes reversing some of the steps undertaken by the Obama administration to ease the decades-long US embargo of that country. He has directed US government agencies, including the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), which is responsible for the administration of the US sanctions against Cuba, to “initiate a process to adjust” their respective regulations within 30 days to implement the changes.  Importantly, FAQs issued by OFAC clarify that the 30-day deadline is only to begin the process of amending the regulations and that the announced changes will not take effect until new or amended regulations are issued.  Otherwise, no deadline for when the regulations must be amended is specified and OFAC states only that it “expects to issue its regulatory amendments in the coming months.”

On October 14, 2016, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) and the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced final rules amending the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), 15 C.F.R. Part 730 et seq., and the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (“CACR”), 31 C.F.R. Part 515, respectively, to authorize additional activities relating to Cuba.  The final rules became effective on October 17, 2016, upon publication in the Federal Register. 

On March 15, 2016, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) announced further amendments (the “Amendments”) to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (“CACR”) and the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), in a continuing effort to implement elements of the policy announced by President Obama on December 17, 2014 and to chip away at the decades-old embargo. The Amendments have been issued in anticipation of President Obama’s inaugural visit to Cuba next week and follow several earlier rounds of relaxation, including those made on January 15, 2015, September 18, 2015, and January 26, 2016. The Amendments went into effect on March 16, 2016.