[REPEALED AND/OR SUPERSEDED]
§ 515.559 Transactions by American-owned or controlled foreign firms with Cuba.
(a) Specific licenses will be issued in appropriate cases for certain categories of transactions between U.S.-owned or controlled firms in third countries and Cuba, where local law requires, or policy in the third country favors, trade with Cuba. The categories include:
(1) Exportation to Cuba of commodities produced in the authorized trade territory, provided:
(i) The commodities to be exported are non-strategic;
(ii) United States-origin technical data (other than maintenance, repair and operations data) will not be transferred;
(iii) If any U.S.-origin parts and components are included therein, such inclusion has been authorized by the Department of Commerce;
(iv) If any U.S.-origin spares are to be reexported to Cuba in connection with a licensed transaction, such reexport has been authorized by the Department of Commerce;
(v) No U.S. dollar accounts are involved; and
(vi) Any financing or other extension of credit by a U.S.-owned or controlled firm is granted on normal short-term conditions which are appropriate for the commodity to be exported.
(2) [Reserved]
(3) Importation of goods of Cuban origin into countries in the authorized trade territory.
(b) The term strategic goods means any item, regardless of origin, of a type included in the Commodity Control List of the U.S. Department of Commerce (15 CFR part 399) and identified by the code letter "A" following the Export Control Commodity Numbers, or of a type the unauthorized exportation of which from the United States is prohibited by regulations issued under the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, 22 U.S.C. 2778, or under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. 2011, et seq., or successor acts restricting the export of strategic goods.
(c) Specific licenses issued pursuant to the policies set forth in this section do not authorize any person within the United States to engage in, participate in, or be involved in a licensed transactions with Cuba or Cuban nationals. Such involvement includes, but is not limited to, assistance or participation by a U.S. parent firm, or any officer or employee thereof, in the negotiation or performance of a transaction which is the subject of a license application. Such participation is a ground for denial of a license application, or for revocation of a license. To be eligible for a license under this section, the affiliate must be generally independent, in the conduct of transactions of the type for which the license is being sought, in such matters as decision-making, risk-taking, negotiation, financing or arranging of financing, and performance.
1) As noted in the comments to the current 515.559, the provision has an odd history. Up through 1992, the provision was the statement of licensing policy. The Cuban Democracy Act then forbade the specific or general licensing of transactions described by the version of 515.559 existing at the time of the CDA's enactment (i.e. the provision reproduced here). To the degree that the scope of the current 515.559 is confusing, reference to the version in place prior to the CDA may be of use.