On March 4, 2019, Secretary of State Pompeo announced that beginning on March 19, the suspension of the right to bring private actions in US federal court against Cuban entities handling confiscated property under Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act (known as the “Helms-Burton Act”) will not apply to Cuban entities or sub-entities identified on the State Department’s List of Restricted Entities and Sub-entities Associated with Cuba (the “Cuba Restricted List,” available here). The right to sue all other Cuban entities and foreign entities under Title III has been further suspended, but only for a 45 day period through April 17, 2019.
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.Â