Specific Licence

What a specific licence actually is

A specific licence is a written authorisation OFAC issues directly to a named applicant, in response to a formal application, permitting a particular transaction or narrow category of transactions that would otherwise be prohibited. Unlike a general licence, which applies automatically to anyone meeting its published terms, a specific licence is individually requested, individually reviewed, and applies only to the specific applicant and transaction described in it.

The legal basis and the application process

Specific licensing sits under the same core regulation as general licensing, 31 C.F.R. § 501.801, with program-specific provisions defining a specific licence as any authorisation issued under a given sanctions programme that isn’t set out in that programme’s own Subpart E or published on OFAC’s website. In practice, an application is submitted through OFAC’s online licensing portal, and OFAC’s decision on that application constitutes final agency action, the formal legal characterisation that determines what avenues, if any, exist to challenge an unfavourable outcome.

Why OFAC won’t grant one if a general licence already covers you

This is the single most important practical fact about specific licensing, and it’s stated directly in OFAC’s own regulations: it is OFAC’s policy not to grant applications for specific licences authorising transactions to which an existing general licence‘s provisions already apply. That means the genuine first step before submitting any specific licence application isn’t drafting the request; it’s confirming, carefully, that no general licence already covers the same activity, since applying for individual permission to do something already generally authorised wastes the application and delays the transaction for no benefit.

What has to be in an application

A specific licence application needs to identify the applicant precisely, describe the exact transaction being requested in enough detail for OFAC to assess it, including the parties involved, the nature and value of the transaction, and the specific sanctions provision the transaction would otherwise violate, and explain why the requested authorisation is consistent with the underlying sanctions programme’s policy objectives. Vague or overly broad requests are far less likely to succeed than applications describing a specific, bounded transaction OFAC can evaluate on its own, defined terms.

What a specific licence does NOT do

Like a general licence, a specific licence authorises only the exact transaction described in it. It doesn’t remove the underlying party from the SDN List, doesn’t authorise related but different transactions the applicant might also want to conduct, and doesn’t create precedent that automatically extends to other, similarly situated applicants; each specific licence stands on its own facts and its own explicit terms. A firm that obtains a specific licence for one transaction with a blocked counterparty still needs separate authorisation for any subsequent, different transaction with that same party.

Real categories where specific licences get used

Specific licences tend to get used for situations too particular, or too commercially sensitive, to be addressed through a published general category: a company needing to wind down a specific pre-existing contractual relationship with a newly designated party, a law firm needing to represent a sanctioned client in litigation, or a financial institution needing to process one particular blocked transaction for a documented, case-specific reason a general licence’s broader language doesn’t quite reach. These are, by nature, individually assessed situations that don’t fit neatly into a pre-published category.

The strict liability backdrop that makes licensing decisions high-stakes

US sanctions enforcement operates on a strict liability standard: a firm doesn’t need to have intended a violation to be found in violation. That backdrop is exactly why the general-versus-specific licensing decision carries real weight rather than being a minor procedural choice. Proceeding with a transaction based on an incorrect assumption that a general licence applies, or without seeking a specific licence where one was genuinely required, exposes a firm to the same civil penalty framework regardless of good faith, which is why sanctions counsel is routinely consulted specifically at this decision point, before a transaction proceeds, not after a problem surfaces.

General vs specific: the decision framework

Working out which licence type actually applies means checking, in order, whether an existing general licence already covers the proposed transaction precisely, since OFAC’s stated policy makes that the controlling path where one exists; if no general licence applies, or the specific facts genuinely fall outside every published general licence’s terms, a specific licence application becomes the appropriate route, built around a precise, well-documented description of exactly what’s being requested and why.

Building a licensing process into a compliance programme

A compliance programme handling specific licence applications well starts with a documented general-licence check for every proposed sanctioned-party transaction before any specific application gets drafted, builds applications around precise, well-evidenced transaction descriptions rather than broad requests likely to draw scrutiny or delay, tracks every specific licence’s exact scope so a firm doesn’t inadvertently rely on one authorisation to justify a related but genuinely different transaction, and maintains realistic expectations about processing time, since individually reviewed applications take materially longer than relying on an applicable general licence’s automatic authorisation.

Frequently asked questions

Read more: our ultimate guides, whitepapers and templates

Related guides and resources to help you act on what you just read.