The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a General License today authorizing certain transactions with the Russian Federal Security Service (known as “FSB”) related to seeking licenses, notifications, and other authorizations with the FSB for the importation, distribution, or use of information technology products in the Russian Federation. The General License follows President Obama’s December 29, 2016 executive order regarding malicious cyber-enabled activities that had placed the FSB on OFAC’s list of specially designated nationals. Because commercial importers of encryption hardware and software into Russia must apply for FSB authorization to import, US companies doing business in Russia were restricted in their import activities following the US government’s designation of FSB. OFAC’s General License now allows regulatory customs-related interaction with FSB with certain limitations (such as that fees to FSB may not exceed $5,000 in a calendar year). A copy of the OFAC General License is available here. FSB is also on the Commerce Department’s “Entity List”. As a result, a separate Commerce Department license may be required for submission to the FSB of EAR-controlled technology as part of the FSB licensing or notification process.
