WASHINGTON — American publishers are free to engage in publishing activities with people in Cuba, Iran and Sudan without fear of violating U.S. economic penalties against those countries, the Bush administration said on Dec. 15.
The Treasury Department's office that enforces embargoes against those countries issued a rule that lists the permissible activities related to the publishing and marketing of manuscripts, books, journals and newspapers in paper or electronic form.
American publishers do not need U.S. government permission to go ahead with such ventures, the department said.
"Persons engaged in activities authorized ... can do so without seeking permission" from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said the office's director, Robert Werner.
Such activities include collaborating on the creation of publications; adding photographs, artwork, translations and explanatory material to a publication; making substantive edits; creating marketing campaigns; and making advance payments and paying royalties.
"This is a victory for freedom of speech," said Marc Brodsky, executive director of the American Institute of Physics and chairman of the Association of American Publishers' professional and scholarly publishing division.
The requirement to seek government permission had scared off publishers interested in pursuing these activities, Brodsky said.
In September, a group including the association's professional and scholarly publishing division had filed a lawsuit in a federal court in New York seeking to strike down the restrictions.
Brodsky believed the threat of litigation spurred the Treasury Department to issue the regulations this week. But department officials said they had been considering the changes for some time.
Brodsky said the plaintiffs were now considering withdrawing the suit.
The old rules were "interpreted by some as discouraging the publication of dissident speech from within these oppressive regimes. That is the opposite of what we want," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's under secretary for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
U.S. publishers, however, still are restricted in their dealings with the governments of these countries, government officials and people acting on behalf of the governments.
In addition, publishers wanting to operate a publishing house, sales or other office in the three countries would need get permission from the U.S. government. The same goes for transactions involving the development, production, design and marketing of software.