Treasury Department Issues General Licenses Easing U.S. Investment and Financial Services Restrictions on Burma

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) has issued two general licenses, General Licenses Nos. 16 and 17, ending the broad-based prohibition on U.S. persons providing financial services or making new investments in Burma included in the Burmese Sanctions Regulations (BSR), 31 C.F.R. Part 537.  The general licenses authorize, with some exceptions, the exportation or reexportation of financial services to Burma and new investments in Burma, subject to certain reporting requirements.  The two new licenses authorize numerous economic activities between U.S. persons and Burma that had been previously prohibited and are therefore a significant easing of the U.S. Government's sanctions against Burma.