Last Friday The United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released its quarterly report on license application determinations made pursuant to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, commonly referred to as the TSRA Act. As readers of this blog may be aware, TSRA allows for the specific licensing of exports of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Cuba, Sudan, and Iran. As part of this program, OFAC releases a quarterly report detailing how many applications were received, for what sanctions programs they were received, and how long it took to process those applications.

Unfortunately, those who are expecting to see that TSRA applications are taking an extremely long time will find that this quarterly report is based on last year’s 3rd quarter, not this year’s. As such, the numbers related to processing times in this new report do not accurately reflect the current backlog at OFAC and the long delays applicants have been experiencing this year.

For example, during the 3rd quarter last year the average TSRA license application time was 90 days. For license approvals the average was 106 days, license denials took an average of 184 days, and returns without action took an average of 70 days. These numbers do not reflect some of the cases I have been hearing about from clients and other practitioners that some new license applications under TSRA have taken as long as nine (9) months for determinations. However, again the reader is reminded that, this year the backlog at OFAC has significantly increased and the numbers in these reports are unlikely to be reflective of the numbers we will see when the 3rd quarter 2011 TSRA report comes out next year.

The good news here is the number of license applications OFAC did grant under the TSRA program during the 3rd quarter of 2010. During that quarter 276 licenses were granted, fifty-eight (58) license amendments were approved, and only two (2) licenses were denied. This is good news for those who want to export agricultural commodities, medicine, or medical devices to embargoed countries. As I have stated time and time again, obtaining an OFAC specific license is not impossible, particularly under the TSRA program….as long as you are willing to wait for it.

The author of this blog is Erich Ferrari, an attorney specializing in OFAC matters. If you have any questions please contact him at 202-280-6370 or ferrari@ferrari-legal.com.