The New York Times is reporting that today, March 8, 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury will announce the issuance of a general license to export certain internet technologies, otherwise prohibited by U.S. economic sanctions, to the countries of Iran, Cuba, and Sudan. The technologies to be allowed will be for free personal internet services and software. In other words, the general license will cover mass market technologies such as MSN messenger, Google Talk, and Yahoo Messenger. It will not allow for the export of encryption software or other software which will make it easier for the end user to hide their activities from a governmental authority. That is not to say that one can not still apply for a specific license to export such technologies. Indeed, the New York Times article went on to quote a Treasury official who said that license applications for such technologies would be looked up on favorably.

Specific licensure would still need to be the course of action for the Haystack software I have written about so frequently. The Haystack software allows for end users to circumvent the Islamic Republic of Iran’s firewalls and censorship measures. As such, it will not fall under the general license, however, its creators are currently awaiting word on whether or not their exportation of such software will be granted specific licensure from OFAC.

The U.S. Department of State recommended to the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) to issue this general license back in December of 2009, however, OFAC never indicated whether they would or not issue such a license. It seems surprising that now, at a time when the U.S. is circulating new Iran sanctions in the United Nations and the U.S. Congress has passed tough new sanctions against Iran, that a general license easing the sanctions would be forthcoming.

What this general license will entail remains to be seen. While the New York Times reports that the issuance of the general license will be announced today, there have yet been no announcements from OFAC or from Treasury regarding it. So on an advisory note, do not start exporting any free mass market personal Internet software until you see the general license information posted on OFAC’s website, or until you have consulted with an attorney experienced in U.S. economic sanctions and with OFAC in particular.

Since the original posting of this blog entry the OFAC general license has been issued. It can be found here. It’s a 21 page document. I will be devoting more time to it later this week, so check back with an update on this very important development.

The New York Times article can be found here.

The author of this blog is Erich Ferrari, an attorney specializing in OFAC litigation. If you have any questions please contact him at 202-280-6370 at 202-351-6161 or ferrari@ferrari-legal.com.