On July 23, 2010, OFAC issued revised "Guidance on the Release of Limited Amounts of Blocked Funds for Payment of Legal Fees and Costs Incurred in Challenging the Blocking of U.S. Persons in Administrative or Civil Proceedings" This revised policy replaces the prior policy in all respects.
OFAC has revised the policy, inter alia, so that the policy's overall attorney fee and cost caps do not apply for applications submitted by a blocked party who has not been designated but whose property and interests in property have been "blocked pending investigation." Such a blocked party must meet all other requirements of the policy before obtaining access to blocked funds, and the hourly fee cap of $125 will continue to be applied to such applications. This revision to the policy applies only to pending and future licensing applications submitted pursuant to this policy as of July 23, 2010, and will not be applied retroactively to persons whose property or interests in property previously were blocked pending investigation but who are not longer in that status.
OFAC has released its Quarterly Report of Licensing Activities pursuant to Section 906(b) of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 ("TSRA"), covering activities undertaken by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") under Section 906(a)(1) of the TSRA from January through March 2010. Under the procedures established in its TSRA-related regulations, OFAC processes license applications requesting authorization to export agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Iran and Sudan under the one-year specific licensing regime set forth in Section 906 of the TSRA.