What is OFAC?

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of Treasury administers and enforces economic embargoes and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, and those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. OFAC acts under Presidential wartime and national emergency powers, as well as authority granted by specific legislation, to impose controls on transactions and freeze foreign assets under US jurisdiction.

Trade sanctions

OFAC enforces embargoes and trade sanctions through licensing requirements for financial transactions and services of value to sanctioned countries, entities, and individuals.

Principal Risks of OFAC Trade Sanction Violations

There are four principal ways that the university and its university employees can violate OFAC trade sanction regulations all involved conducting international collaborations or exchanges including:

• Transactions involving designated foreign countries or their nationals including in some cases travel (Cuba and Sudan)
• Transactions with respect to securities registered or inscribed in the name of a designated national
• Importation of and dealings in certain merchandise; and holding of certain types of blocked property in interest-bearing accounts.
• Transactions with specific entities or individuals known as "specially designated nationals," found in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDNL)

It is reasonable to assume that any transaction with OFAC embargoed countries (Cuba, Iran, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Sudan, and Syria) will require a general or specific license from OFAC, or a license exemption. License exemptions are very limited for these countries; you should consult with the Office of Export and Secure Research Compliance (OESRC) before proceeding further. The other countries/regions with limited sanctions are: Liberia, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro), Cote D'Ivoire (formerly Ivory Coast) and the Palestinian Territories. Transactions with any of these countries may require special licenses or license exemptions. It is reasonable to assume that you will be able to do business in these countries and regions, probably without an OFAC special license. You should still contact David Brady to determine what limits there might be to your research, conference, and travel plans in these countries or regions.

Regarding transactions with specific entities and specially designated nationals, you should follow the guidelines that follow relating to the SDNL

General Licenses and License Exemptions

There are several limited general licenses and exemptions under which the university or its employees may conduct transactions with sanctioned countries or their nationals. These include:

• Information and informational materials (License exemption): Importation and exportation of information or informational materials already in the public domain, whether commercial or otherwise, regardless of format or medium of transmission, are exempt from the prohibitions and regulations of these sanctions. This exemption is limited solely to existing information and informational materials, and does not authorize financial transactions or services of value that relate to materials not already published.
• Humanitarian activities (License exemption): Transactions sponsored by any United States 501(c )(3) qualified nongovernmental organization. The exemptions are country-specific and very narrowly tailored and are not available for all sanctioned countries.
• Official activities of certain international organizations (General license): Transactions assoc-iated with certain humanitarian projects for nongovernmental organizations (the United Nations, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Labor Organization or the World Health Organization).
• Authorized transactions necessary and ordinarily incident to publishing (General license): all transactions necessary and ordinarily incident to the publishing and marketing of manuscripts, books, journals, and newspapers (collectively, ``written publications''), in paper or electronic format. This license authorizes collaborating with “academics and research institutions” of sanctioned countries on the:

1. Commissioning and making advance payments for identifiable written publications not yet in existence, to the extent consistent with industry practice;   
2. Collaborating on the creation and enhancement of written publications;   
3. Augmenting written publications through the addition of items such as photographs, artwork, translation, and explanatory text; 
4. Substantive editing of written publications; Payment of royalties for written publications;
5. Creating or undertaking a marketing campaign to promote a written publication; andOther transactions necessary and ordinarily incident to the publishing and marketing of written publications.

There may be other license exemptions available on a country-by-country basis.

Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons