The U.S. Embassy in Nepal announced today that OFAC has granted a license to the U.S. Mission in Nepal and to the U.S. Agency for International Development to continue to provide assistance to the Government of Nepal notwithstanding the participation of the Communist Party of Nepal (usually referred to simply as the Maoists) in the interim government of Nepal. As we noted in an earlier post, the Maoists were added to the SDN list in 2003. Even though the Government of Nepal has reached a peace accord with the Maoists and included them in the interim government, the United States has not removed them from the SDN list. This means that provision of goods, services or financial assistance to the Government of Nepal or its agencies violates OFAC’s anti-terrorism sanctions regulations.

Neither the Embassy nor OFAC has yet released a copy of the license so the scope of the license is not clear. Whether it covers U.S. companies and NGOs in Nepal that may have dealings with the government remains to be seen. For the moment, it must be assumed that U.S. companies and NGOs will need separate licenses from OFAC to provide financial assistance, goods or services to the Government of Nepal, its agencies and its state-owned enterprises until such time as the Maoists are either removed from the SDN list or are removed from the interim government.

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