The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) published today in the Federal Register a Final Rule amending the Burmese Sanctions Regulations. The amendment adds to those regulations a new § 537.527 which overrules the regulations’ prohibition of imports of Burmese-origin articles to permit the importation of “animals and specimens of Burmese origin, in sample quantities only, for bona fide scientific research and analysis purposes.” The importation will require a license, and licensing decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

The Federal Register notice provides no indication as to OFAC’s motivation for adopting the rule, but it seems to me that it is a speedy and laudable response to the recent outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu in Burma. The new rule will permit the importation, among other things, of birds and laboratory samples taken from birds in Burma in order to promote scientific research into the causes, prevention, treatment and eradication of bird flu.

It seems that OFAC can, from time to time at least, stop gnawing on the Cuba bone long enough to do something useful. Kudos to the agency officials who took this prompt action.

(The title is a reference to this guilty pleasure.)

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