OFAC Publishes Biennial Report on Licensing Activities for Agricultural/Medical Exports to Iran and Sudan
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has published its third Biennial Report of Licensing Activities pursuant to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA).
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The report covers activities undertaken by OFAC from October 2004 through September 2006 regarding the processing of license applications requesting authorization to export agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Iran and Sudan under the one-year licensing regime set forth in the TSRA.
Highlights of Biennial Report
The following are highlights of the report's summary of OFAC's licensing activities pursuant to the TSRA between October 2004 and September 2006:
Majority of licenses were for Iran. The majority of license applications received (88.1%) and the majority of licenses/license amendments issued (88%) were issued for the sale of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Iran.
Medical device export licenses dominated. In keeping with the program's trend, over half (53.5%) of the license applications and 44.7% of the licenses/license amendments were for the export of medical devices to Iran and Sudan.
Applications increased 21%. OFAC received 1,794 license applications during the reporting period, representing a 21.2% increase from the prior two year period.
License processing time decreased 29%. The average processing time for issuing licenses decreased by 29.3% to 33.1 business days (from 46.8 days). OFAC states that the increased complexity, volume, and length of license applications coupled with the more protracted scrutiny on the part of other reviewing agencies continued to affect processing time of license applications in the reporting period.
Fewer licensing determinations1. OFAC states it was only able to issue licensing determinations on 83.2% of all the license applications received, compared to 92% for the prior period, though it issued additional determinations after the two-year period.
1A licensing determination is defined as any action, either intermediate or final, that OFAC takes on a license application. It may take the form of a license, a license amendment, a "return-without-action" letter, a general information letter, an interpretative letter, a denial letter, a telephone call, a fax, or an e-mail.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 03/27/07 news, 07032730, for BP summary of OFAC's clarification of these one-year export licensing procedures.
See ITT's Online Archives or 08/10/04 news, 04081040, for BP summary of OFAC's request for comments on these licensing procedures, including information on Libya no longer being subject to them.
See ITT's Online Archives or 07/16/01 news, 01071616, for BP summary of OFAC's liberalization of export controls on food, medicines, and medical devices to Sudan, Iran, etc.)
OFAC report announcement (dated 05/08/08) available at http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/actions/20080508.shtml
OFAC Biennial Report of Licensing Activities (October 2004 - September 2006) available at http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/licensing/agmed/3rdbiennial.pdf