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On May 30, 2013, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released General License D, “General License with Respect to the Exportation and Reexportation of Certain Services, Software, and Hardware Incident to the Exchange of Personal Communications” under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR). The General License is effective May 30, 2013, and to the extent that such transactions are not exempt from the prohibitions of the ITSR, and subject to certain restrictions set forth below, authorizes the exportation or reexportation, directly or indirectly, from the United States or by U.S. persons, wherever located, to persons in Iran:
• of fee-based services incident to the exchange of personal communications over the Intemet, such as instant messaging, chat and email, social networking, sharing of photos and movies, web browsing, and blogging.
• of fee-based software subject to the Export Administration Regulations, (EAR), that is necessary to enable the services described above, provided that such software is designated as EAR99 under the EAR, or is classified by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the Commerce Control List, under ECCN 5D992.C.
o Note: See 31 C.F.R. § 560.540 for provisions relating to the exportation to persons in Iran of publicly available, no-cost services incident to the exchange of personal communications over the Intemet and publicly available, no-cost software necessary to enable such services.
• to the extent not authorized by the above, of certain software and hardware that are subject to the EAR and incident to personal communications, as well as related services, as specified in the Annex to General License D.
• of consumer-grade Intemet cormectivity services and the provision, sale, or leasing of capacity on telecommunications transmission facilities (such as satellite or terrestrial network connectivity) incident to personal communications.
o Note: The authorization set forth above extends to entities owned or controlled by a United States person and established or maintained outside the United States subject to the conditions set forth in 31 C.F.R. § 560.556.
Nothing in the general license relieves the exporter from compliance with the export license application requirements of another Federal agency. The general license does not authorize the exportation or reexportation, directly or indirectly,
• of the services, software, or hardware with knowledge or reason to know that such services, software, or hardware are intended for the Govemment of Iran;
• software, and hardware to any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to any part of 31 C.F.R. chapter V;
• of commercial-grade Intemet connectivity services or telecommunications transmission facilities (such as dedicated satellite links or dedicated lines that include quality of service guarantees); or
• of web-hosting services that are for purposes other than personal communications (e.g., web-hosting services for commercial endeavors) or of domain name registration services.
Effective May 30, 2013, transfers of funds from Iran or for or on behalf of a person in Iran in furtherance of an underlying transaction authorized by General License D may be processed by U.S. depository institutions and U.S. registered brokers or dealers in securities so long as they are consistent with 31 C.F.R. § 560.516.
Specific licenses may be issued on a case-by-case basis for the exportation and reexportation of services, software, and hardware incident to personal communications not specified above or the Annex to the general license.
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