International Law Advisory - OFAC Amends General Licenses on Activities in Connection with Written Publications

On Thursday, August 30, 2007, the Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Burmese Sanctions Regulations, Sudanese Sanctions Regulations, and Iranian Transactions Regulations to extend the general licenses previously implemented in those regulations regarding services in connection with written publications.  The amendments cover the augmentation of written publications in electronic format with embedded software necessary to review or search those publications, and the export of such software provided certain preconditions are met. See 72 Fed. Reg. 168 at 50047-50052 (August 30, 2007).  The regulation also makes explicit that the term "written publication" includes information that is made available exclusively in electronic format, and makes other technical, clarifying, and conforming changes to the general licenses.

The "written publication" general licenses, which were originally implemented in December 2004 and (in the case of the Burmese Sanctions Regulations) April 2005, authorize US persons to engage in transactions otherwise restricted by the OFAC sanctions regulations that are “necessary and ordinarily incident” to the publishing and marketing of manuscripts, books, journals, and newspapers, in paper or electronic format.  See 31 C.F.R. §§ 515.577 (Cuba), 537.526 (Burma), 538.529 (Sudan), 560.538 (Iran).  Permissible activities include, among other things, commissioning and making advance payments for publications, collaborating on the creation or augmentation of written publications, and payment of royalties for publications.  Certain other activities are excluded from the scope of the general licenses, including services related to design or development of software, transactions relating to technologies controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 C.F.R. §§ 120-130), Export Administration Regulations (EAR) (15 C.F.R. §§ 730-774), or the Department of Energy export control regulations (10 C.F.R. Part 810), and services provided to sanctioned government entities (although transfers to state-owned academic and research institutions are permitted).  The primary purpose of last week’s amendments was to clarify that the "written publication" general licenses cover activities in connection with purely electronic media, including the use and transfer of publication-related embedded software.

Please contact Ed Krauland at 202.429.8083 in Washington, DC or David Lorello at +44 (0)20 7367 8007 in London if you have any questions regarding these changes to the OFAC sanctions regulations.