OFAC Issues Cuba General License
On June 25, 2004, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license that will delay until August 1, 2004 the enforcement of the recent regulation that tightens travel restrictions on Cuba. The new regulation was to take effect on June 30, 2004.
The general license allows U.S. residents that traveled legally to Cuba to visit relatives under a general or specific license or under the "fully hosted" provisions of the Cuban Sanctions Regulations will not be subject to enforcement actions if they return to the U.S. by 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 2004.
Travel industry representatives and several Members of Congress have pressed OFAC to extend the deadline, saying that the original regulations gave air charter companies too little notice to inform passengers, many in remote rural areas, that they had to return before the end of June. In addition, air charter companies claimed that they faced big losses by flying empty aircraft to Cuba to pick up passengers rushing to beat the June 30 deadline.
A number of Members of Congress have pressed the Bush Administration to reverse its decision to impose further restrictions on travel to Cuba. In fact, several lawmakers met on June 24, 2004 with Dan Fisk, the deputy assistant secretary of state, and Office of Foreign Assets Control Director Richard Newcomb. The tone of the meeting was described be attendees as "tense."
On June 24, 2004, Representative Jim Davis (D-FL) introduced H.R. 4678, a bill that would reverse the new changes and maintain the current standards, which allow Cuban Americans to visit once a year and lets them send a maximum of $1,200 a year to families in Cuba.
The following is the text of the general license:
Certain Travel-Related Transactions in Cuba Until 12:Ol a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on August 1, 2004
(a) Family visit travelers. A person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who is in Cuba on June 29, 2004, under a general or specific license to visit a close relative in Cuba pursuant to 31 C.F.R. § 515.561(a) or (b) as in effect on June 29, 2004, is authorized to continue to engage in all of the transactions ordinarily incident to travel within and from Cuba authorized on June 29, 2004, until 12:Ol a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on August 1, 2004.
(b) Fully-hosted travelers. A person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who is in Cuba on June 29, 2004, and qualifies as a "fully-hosted" traveler as set forth in 31 C.F.R. § 515.420 as in effect on June 29, 2004, is authorized to continue to receive goods and services in Cuba for personal use or consumption in Cuba until 12:Ol a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on August 1, 2004, provided that no person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States (including the traveler) makes any payment, transfers any property, or provides any service to Cuba or a national of Cuba in connection with the receipt of those goods or services
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