News and Announcements

Cuba Guidance 2017

June of 2017, the Trump Administration announced changes to the U.S. policy on Cuba.  The changes will not take effect until The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issues new regulations (somewhere between 30-90 days), but it is expected that the new regulations will contain: a prohibition on all transactions between U.S. persons and “entities related to the Cuban military, intelligence, or security services” (i.e. Grupo de Administración Empresarial or “GAESA”, which controls around 60% of the Cuban economy); the elimination of the people-to-people travel exception for individuals; and, a change to the group educational travel permissions under the people-to-people exception, wherein the group trips must be organized “under the auspices of an organization that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction that sponsors such exchanges”.  OFAC will add entities owned by GAESA to their SDN list.  Individuals traveling to Cuba under OFAC general licenses, license exceptions or a specific license should contact the System Export Control Officer prior to travel and to pre-screen Cuban entities.  Further guidance will be issued after OFAC issues their final changes to the regulations. Updates to the changes will be posted when they become available. To read the full text of the Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the U.S. toward Cuba -click here.

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