Case No. BU-2013-302037-1
Peter Van den Dool, Assistant General Counsel
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
1100 New York Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20527
Dear Mr. Van den Dool:
This responds to your correspondence of May 9, 2013 (the “Application”), to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), on behalf of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (“OPIC”), an agency of the United States under the policy guidance of the Secretary of State, requesting interpretive guidance as to the applicability of General License No. 16 and an exemption in Executive Order 13619 of July 11, 2012 (“E.O. 13619”), to OPIC’s proposed development activities in Burma.
Except as otherwise authorized, the Burmese Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. 537 (the “BSR”), generally prohibit the exportation or reexportation of financial services to Burma, directly or indirectly, from the United States...
1) Background
Case No. BU-2013-302037-1 is, as of Apr. 21, 2021, the most notable of the guidance letters of file that address the scope of the exemptions and licenses covering “transactions for the conduct of the official business of the U.S. Government by employees, grantees, or contractors thereof.” Read in conjunction with Case No. BU-2013-302061-1, which is a sort of "companion case" (letter issued to the U.S. Ex-Im bank concerning the same sanctions regulations and "official business" exemption).
First, note that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (“OPIC”) was dissolved on December 20, 2019. It merged with the Development Credit Authority of the United States Agency for International Development to form the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. At the time the guidance was requested and issued, OPIC was an “independent agency,” created by the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act...