Treasury to Allow Payments Through US Banks for Certain Imports From Cuba
The Treasury Department made a range of updates to its Cuba sanctions regulations this week, including one change that will allow U.S. banks to open accounts for certain Cuban nationals and authorize payments to those Cuban nationals for imports to the U.S. of certain goods and services.
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The change, outlined as part of a broader final rule issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control that’s effective May 29, revised the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to allow Cuban nationals who are “independent private sector entrepreneurs” to open, maintain and remotely use U.S. bank accounts -- including through online payment platforms -- for certain transactions. Those transactions include payments for imports of certain goods authorized by the State Department, OFAC said.
The agency stressed that, under the new authorization, banks can only open accounts for “independent private sector entrepreneurs,” which the agency is defining as “private cooperatives, small private businesses, and sole proprietorships located in Cuba of up to 100 employees.”
OFAC also said payments can only be made for imports produced by the independent private sector entrepreneur, it said. Goods are “generally” not considered produced by those entrepreneurs “if the manufacturing or processing conducted by Cuban state-owned entities results in a product with a new name, character, or use,” the agency said.
For example, an agricultural good grown by an independent grower but processed by a Cuban state-owned company into a new product before being exported to the U.S. “would not be a good produced by an independent private sector entrepreneur,” OFAC said. “However, a good can still be considered produced by an independent private sector entrepreneur if, for example, Cuban state-owned entities are involved only in packing of the final product or acting solely as an export agent.”