FINAL RULES
PUBLISHED IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER DURING 1992
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSET CONTROL
FOREIGN ASSET CONTROL REGULATIONS
(31 CFR Part 500 et seq.)
NOTE: CHANGES TO THE FOREIGN ASSET CONTROL REGULATIONS LISTED BELOW ARE NUMBERED CONSECUTIVELY, BEGINNING IN JANUARY OF THE NEW YEAR.
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1. Libyan Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 525 on January 7, 1992)
Commentary: This notice corrects a final rule previously published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control governing transfers of funds in which the Government of Libya has an interest that are cleared through U.S. banks.
2. Foreign Assets Control, Cuban Assets Control, Foreign Funds Control, Rhodesian Sanctions, Iranian Assets Control, Libyan Sanctions, Iranian Transactions, and Iraqi Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 1386 on January 14, 1992)
Commentary: This final rule makes several important changes to the various embargo regimes administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, as follows: (1) use of specific forms for filing license applications has been eliminated, and henceforth all license applications may be filed by letter request; (2) all licensing activity previously conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank in New York has been eliminated and/or transferred to the Office of Foreign Assets Control in Washington, D.C.; (3) rules governing access to information under the Freedom of Information Act have been clarified; and (4) the former Rhodesian Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 530) have been officially removed.
3. Foreign Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 1872 on January 16, 1992)
Commentary: In support of the implementation of the recently signed Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodian conflict, the Treasury Department has lifted prospectively the trade embargo against Cambodia, effective January 2, 1992. (Note, however, that the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration has not removed Cambodia from Country Group Z, so a validated license is still required for all exports to Cambodia.)
4. Cuban Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 2624 on January 22, 1992)
Commentary: This notice includes a list of travel service providers and persons forwarding family remittances who are authorized to provide services with respect to Cuba, and it requests public comment on the fitness and qualification of additional applicants.
5. Foreign Assets Control Regulations, Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Foreign Funds Control Regulations, Iranian Assets Control Regulations, and Iraqi Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 6296 on February 24, 1992)
Commentary: This notice simply publishes the authorization number assigned by the Office of Management and Budget for the information collection requirements contained in the various embargo regimes administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
6. Foreign Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 9052 on March 16, 1992)
Commentary: As a follow-on to the final rule lifting the embargo on Cambodia published in the Federal Register on January 16, 1992 (57 FR 1872), this new rule provides for registration of claims by U.S. nationals against Cambodia. All outstanding claims by U.S. nationals against the Government of Cambodia or a Cambodian government entity should be filed with the Office of Foreign Assets Control on or before April 30, 1992.
7. Soviet Gold Coin Regulations (57 FR 10291 on March 25, 1992)
Commentary: In light of the fact that Congress repealed the prohibition on the importation of gold coins from the Soviet Union effective on December 4, 1992, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has modified the Soviet Gold Coin Regulations accordingly. Only the information collection provisions of these regulations remain in effect.
8. Libyan Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 10798 on March 31, 1992)
Commentary: Although certain economic sanctions have been imposed with respect to transactions with Libya since 1986, recently the Bush administration has taken several steps to tighten the screws on the Qadhafi regime. These steps include not only the addition of 46 new companies to the list of Specially Designated Nationals who are banned from doing business with U.S. persons, as indicated in this new final rule, but also the contemporaneous announcement of Operation Roadblock, a Treasury Department initiative targeting U.S. travellers who violate the U.S. sanctions on Libya. Look for more sanctions, in coordination with United Nations Security Council resolutions, in the near future.
9. Haitian Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 10820 on March 31, 1992)
Commentary: This final rule implements the embargo of Haiti. Like other embargo regimes administered by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Haitian embargo regime has its own peculiarities, so caution is advised in the review of the precise scope and effect of the regulations, as they may affect particular transactions.
10. Cuban Asset Control Regulations (57 FR 15216 on April 24, 1992)
Commentary: This new rule prohibits vessels carrying goods or passengers to or from Cuba from entering U.S. ports, but also announces the availability of licenses to carry humanitarian packages and mail to Cuba.
11. Foreign Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 17855 on April 28, 1992)
Commentary: As a further step towards normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam, and in recognition of the fact that circumvention of the embargo was only enriching Australian and Canadian telecommunications providers, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has amended the Foreign Assets Control Regulations to authorize U.S. telecommunications providers, like AT&T, to provide telecommunications services to Vietnam. All payments owed by Vietnam must be made into a blocked account, but this is yet another sign that the end of the embargo is approaching.
12. Foreign Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 20765 on May 15, 1992)
Commentary: As a further step toward the normalization of relations with Vietnam, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has amended the Foreign Assets Control Regulations to permit the issuance of export licenses to U.S. Persons authorizing the export of foreign-origin goods to meet basic human needs under commercial contracts. This includes, for example, food, medicine, and other categories of products which the Department of Commerce has been authorizing U.S. private volunteer organizations to provide under Humanitarian license procedures. At the same time, the Department of Commerce issued a press release indicating that it would process license applications for similar transaction in U.S.-origin goods, but did not formally amend its regulations to like effect.
13. Haitian Transaction Regulations (57 FR 23954 on June 5, 1992)
Commentary: This final rule amends the Haitian Transactions Regulations to limit the entry into U.S. territorial waters of vessels that have called in Haiti, in an attempt to stem the tide of "boat people" seeking asylum in the United States.
14. Foreign Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 28613 on June 26, 1992)
Commentary: In a further (albeit modest) liberalization of its policy with respect to Vietnam, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has limited the scope of the reporting requirements which apply to transactions incident to travel in Vietnam, and expanded the scope of telecommunications related transactions permitted on the part of U.S. common carriers.
15. Libyan Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 29424 on July 1, 1992)
Commentary: The Office of Foreign Assets Control has expanded the list of organizations deemed to be part of the "Government of Libya" as well as the list of specially designated nationals of Libya. As the notice states: "[t]he Treasury Department regards it as incumbent upon all U.S. persons to take reasonable steps to ascertain for themselves whether persons they enter into transactions with are owned or controlled by the Government of Libya, or are acting or purporting to act on its behalf..."
16. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro);Notification of Status of Controlled Yugoslav Entities (57 FR 32051 on July 20, 1992)
Commentary: Clarifying the scope of Executive Orders 12808 and 12810, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has published a list of entities that are owned or controlled by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). However, the list includes an explicit warning that the list is not complete; additional notices are expected in the near future.
17. Haitian Transactions Regulations (57 FR 39603 on September 1, 1992)
Commentary: This final rule authorizes export of certain specific food products to Haiti under General License and indicates that specific licenses authorizing exports of propane will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
18. Iraqi Sanctions Regulations; Repeal of Reporting Requirement (57 FR 39603 on September 1, 1992)
Commentary: The Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") has eliminated the requirement that financial institutions file monthly reports regarding certain bank accounts in which the Government of Iraq has an interest.
19. Libyan Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 41696 on September 11, 1992)
Commentary: OFAC has tightened the rules governing transfers between blocked accounts, out of concern for possible abuses of such transfers.
20. Foreign Funds Control Regulations (57 FR 44682 on September 29, 1992)
Commentary: Recognizing the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, this final rule removes the World War II era restrictions on property of private individuals and organizations located in the Baltic Republics which have been in effect since 1945.
21. Cuban Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 53996 on November 16, 1992)
Commentary: This final rule makes several changes and clarifications to the Cuban embargo regulations. Despite the general license permitting imports from Cuba in personal baggage, you still cannot bring Cuban cigars (or liquor) purchased in third countries into the U.S. for personal consumption. Nor can you perform any "research" activities in Cuba, except for "noncommercial, academic" research. However, the regulations permitting travel and family remittances have been streamlined, somewhat.
22. Libyan Sanctions Regulations (57 FR 54176 on November 17, 1992)
Commentary: The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has expanded the list of "specially designated nationals" of Libya which are subject to embargo.
23. Foreign Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 58986 on December 14, 1992)
Commentary: This final rule authorizes U.S. common carriers to make current settlement payments to Vietnam or Vietnamese nationals with respect to telecommunications transactions involving Vietnam. Together with the announcement of a liberal licensing policy with respect to exports in connection with opening offices and entering into executory contracts in Vietnam, it seems clear that the end of the embargo is near.
24. Foreign Assets Control Regulations (57 FR 62230 on December 30, 1992)
Commentary: This final rule authorizes U.S. companies and their foreign subsidiaries to enter into executory contracts with Vietnamese entities, provided that the performance of such contracts cannot begin until the embargo has been lifted. All such executory contracts must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control within 10 days after execution. However, commercial and financial transactions necessary to obtain and perform such contracts (including opening offices in Vietnam, hiring Vietnamese nationals, writing and designing plans, carrying out preliminary feasibility studies and engineering and technical surveys, and import, export and service transactions incident to the foregoing) still must be licensed on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, any exports of U.S.-origin goods and technical data still must be licensed by the Department of Commerce.