International Trade Law News

The Associated Baptist Press reports that the Alliance of Baptists' Cuba travel license has been suspended by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) pending an investigation into whether the organization violated the terms of the license. The article states that OFAC sent the organization a letter indicating that OFAC had "reviewed a trip itinerary . . . and determined that the [group] had spent only four hours per day on such religious activities and had spent much of the rest of their time traveling to visit farms and tourist sites." As a result, OFAC alleged that the organization engaged only in "transactions directly incident to a full-time program of religious activities in Cuba," as department guidelines require. The article notes that Baptist organization disputes OFAC's "determination was inaccurate, because the activities were not what they seemed."

OFAC is currently investigating reports of abuse of religious licenses granted for travel to Cuba. Specifically, OFAC has learned that some organizations may be abusing their licenses by allowing individuals not affiliated with the organizations to travel under the authority of their licenses. OFAC has indicated that it will take appropriate action against groups and individuals that have engaged in transactions outside the scope of a license.

The complete article can be viewed at the following link: www.abpnews.com/news/news_detail.cfm?NEWS_ID=788.

Labels: OFAC