June 16, 2017
Department of the Treasury
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
Frequently Asked Questions on President Trump’s Cuba
Announcement
1. How will OFAC implement the changes to the Cuba sanctions
program announced
by the President on June 16, 2017? Are the changes effective
immediately?
OFAC will implement the Treasury-specific changes via
amendments to its Cuban Assets
Control Regulations. The Department of Commerce will
implement any necessary
changes via amendments to its Export Administration
Regulations. OFAC expects to
issue its regulatory amendments in the coming months. The announced changes do not
take
effect until the new regulations are issued.
90 days?
2. What is individual people-to-people travel, and how does
the President’s
announcement impact this travel authorization?
Individual people-to-people travel is educational travel
that: (i) does not involve
academic study pursuant to a degree program; and (ii) does
not take place under the
auspices of an organization that is subject to U.S.
jurisdiction that sponsors such
exchanges to promote people-to-people contact. The President
instructed Treasury to
issue regulations that will end individual people-to-people travel. The
announced
changes
do not take effect until the new regulations are issued.
The only concrete
change; minimizes support for Cuban entrepreneurs; undermines airlines; destroys
Airbnb market; ends most spontaneous form of interaction, not programed and
supervised by government
3. Will group
people-to-people travel still be authorized?
Yes.
Group people-to-people travel is educational travel not involving academic
study
pursuant to a degree program that takes place under the
auspices of an organization that is
subject to U.S. jurisdiction that sponsors such exchanges to
promote people-to-people
contact. Travelers utilizing this travel authorization must
maintain a full-time schedule of
educational exchange activities that are intended to enhance
contact with the Cuban
people, support civil society in Cuba, or promote the Cuban
people’s independence from
Cuban authorities, and that will result in meaningful
interaction between the traveler and
individuals in Cuba. An employee, consultant, or agent of
the group must accompany
each group to ensure that each traveler maintains a
full-time schedule of educational
exchange activities.
Specific or general
license? Can they use GAESA linked
hotels?
4. How do the changes announced by the President on June 16,
2017 affect individual
people-to-people
travelers who have already begun making their travel
arrangements (such as purchasing flights, hotels, or rental
cars)?
The announced changes do not take effect until OFAC issues
new regulations. Provided
that
the traveler has already completed at least one travel-related transaction
(such as
purchasing
a flight or reserving accommodation) prior to the President’s announcement
on June
16, 2017, all additional travel-related transactions for that trip, whether the
trip
occurs
before or after OFAC’s new regulations are issued, would also be authorized,
provided the travel-related transactions are consistent with
OFAC’s regulations as of June
16, 2017.
Individual trips
protected indefinitely if already started; new trips can be done before new reg
issued
5. How do the changes announced by the President on June 16,
2017 affect other
authorized travelers to Cuba whose travel arrangements may
include direct
transactions
with entities related to the Cuban military, intelligence, or security
services
that may be implicated by the new Cuba policy?
The
announced changes do not take effect until OFAC issues new regulations.
Consistent with the Administration’s interest in not
negatively impacting Americans for
arranging lawful travel to Cuba, any travel-related
arrangements that include direct
transactions with entities related to the Cuban military,
intelligence, or security services
that may be implicated by the new Cuba policy will be permitted provided that
those
travel
arrangements were initiated prior to the issuance of the forthcoming
regulations.
Group tours can book
into GAESA linked hotels if done before new regs. Unclear afterwards.
6. How do the changes announced by the President on June 16,
2017 affect companies
subject to U.S. jurisdiction that are already engaged in the
Cuban market and that
may undertake direct transactions with entities related to
the Cuban military,
intelligence, or security services that may be implicated by
the new Cuba policy?
The announced changes do not take effect until OFAC issues
new regulations.
Consistent with the Administration’s interest in not
negatively impacting American
businesses for engaging in lawful commercial opportunities, any Cuba-related
commercial
engagement that includes direct transactions with entities related to
the
Cuban military, intelligence, or security services that may
be implicated by the new Cuba
policy will
be permitted provided that those commercial engagements were in place prior
to the
issuance of the forthcoming regulations.
New deals possible before
regs issued; old deals grandfathered
7. Does the new policy affect how persons subject to U.S
jurisdiction may purchase
airline
tickets for authorized travel to Cuba?
No. The new policy will not change how persons subject to U.S.
jurisdiction traveling to
Cuba pursuant to the 12 categories of authorized travel may
purchase their airline tickets.
Virtually all passengers
will be Cuban Americans and group tours
8. Can I continue to send authorized remittances to Cuba?
Yes.
The announced policy changes will not change the authorizations for sending
remittances to Cuba. Additionally, the announced changes
include an exception that
will
allow
for transactions incidental to the sending, processing, and receipt of
authorized
remittances to the extent they would otherwise be restricted
by the new policy limiting
transactions with certain identified Cuban military,
intelligence, or security services. As
a result, the restrictions on certain transactions in the
new Cuba policy will not limit the
ability to send or receive authorized remittances.
9. How does the new policy impact other authorized travel to
Cuba by persons subject
to U.S. jurisdiction?
The new policy will not result in changes to the other (non-individual
people-to-people)
authorizations
for travel.
Following the issuance of OFAC’s regulatory changes, travel-related transactions with
prohibited
entities identified by the State Department generally will not be permitted.
Guidance will accompany the issuance of the new regulations.
Cuban American,
religious, educational institutions, support for the Cuban people, others from
11 categories not affected but everyone could be barred from GAESA linked
hotels, services, restaurants, transportation
10. How will the new policy impact existing OFAC specific
licenses?
The forthcoming regulations will be prospective and thus will not affect existing
contracts
and licenses.
Grandfathered hotel management
agreements?
11. How will U.S. companies know if their Cuban counterpart
is affiliated with a
prohibited entity or sub-entity in Cuba?
The State Department will be publishing a list of entities with which direct transactions
generally
will not be permitted. Guidance will accompany the issuance of the new
regulations. The announced changes do not take effect until
the new regulations are
issued.
If a booking is done
by a Cuban or international agency, is that a direct transaction?
12. Is authorized travel by cruise ship or passenger vessel to Cuba impacted
by the new
Cuba policy?
Persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction will still be able to
engage in authorized travel to
Cuba by cruise ship or passenger vessel.
Following the issuance of OFAC’s regulatory changes, travel-related transactions with
prohibited
entities identified by the State Department generally will not be permitted.
Guidance will accompany the issuance of the new regulations.
Cruises permitted
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