On October 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a final rule in the Federal Register amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) to remove from the scope of generally authorized remittances any transactions involving “entities or subentities” identified on the U.S. Department of State’s Cuba Restricted List. The amendment will restrict these entities’ access to funds obtained in connection with remittance-related activities, including in their role as intermediaries or in their receipt of fees or commissions from processing remittance transactions. The amendment becomes effective on November 26, 2020.
Specifically, the final rule’s amendment will directly impact the scope of the following general licenses:
- 31 CFR § 515.570, authorizing certain types of remittances to Cuba from persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction or from blocked accounts;
- 31 CFR § 515.572(a)(3), authorizing certain travel related and remittance forwarding services; and
- 31 CFR § 515.587, authoring certain remittances from Cuban nationals to persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
The rule will also amend 31 CFR § 515.421 (authorizing certain transactions ordinarily incident to licensed transactions) to make clear that a transaction relating to the “collection, forwarding, or receipt of remittances” involving any entity or subentity identified on the Cuba Restricted List “is not authorized as an ordinarily incident transaction where the terms of the general or specific license expressly exclude any such transactions.”
As a result of these amendments, effective November 26, 2020, persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction will no longer be authorized to process remittances to or from Cuba through FINCIMEX and AIS or any other entity or subentity on the Cuba Restricted List.