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Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

Office of Compliance and Enforcement:

Data Delivery Standards Guidance:

Preferred Practices for Productions to OFAC

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers and

enforces U.S. economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign governments, individuals,

entities, and practices. OFAC’s Office of Compliance and Enforcement (OCE) is responsible for

conducting civil enforcement investigations of individuals and entities subject to any of the

sanctions programs administered or enforced by OFAC in response to apparent violations of the

sanctions programs OFAC administers. OCE’s investigations vary in size, scope, and

complexity. In some circumstances, an OCE investigation may necessitate the production of a

significant number of documents. To facilitate OCE’s review of materials provided to it during

the course of such investigations, OCE encourages persons submitting information to OCE to

consider the practices enumerated in this document. The guidance in Section I of this document

applies to persons responding to administrative subpoenas from OFAC issued pursuant to 31

C.F.R. § 501.602, though it also may be helpful to persons responding to non-compulsory

requests for information or making voluntary self-disclosures in considering how to organize

their submissions. The technical standards in the remainder of the document apply to all

electronic productions to OCE. Please note that if you are making a production to OCE and

require clarification or would like to discuss the application of these preferred practices to your

situation, please contact the OCE representative handling your case directly and provide the

investigation reference number.

This document is divided into six sections and an addendum; Sections IV – VI are applicable

where the production of an entire submission as PDF files is impractical:

 Section I contains OCE’s preferred practices for organizing document productions in

response to administrative subpoenas from OFAC.

 Section II contains file size and delivery instructions for electronic submission.

 Section III contains instructions for electronically submitting files in PDF format.

 Section IV contains instructions for electronically submitting documents that were

originally in paper form.

 Section V contains instructions for electronically submitting email collections.

 Section VI contains instructions for electronically submitting native files.

 The Technical Addendum provides a detailed description of additional document

production specifications that are compatible with OCE’s current technological platforms.

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Unless told otherwise by the OCE representative handling your case, hardcopies of all

submissions are expected, even if a production is made electronically. Submit all hardcopies, as

well as physical electronic media such as CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives, or thumb-drives, to

the following address and ensure you include the investigation reference number in the cover

letter to ensure timely delivery:

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Office of Foreign Assets Control

Freedman’s Bank Building

Attn: [Insert OCE Representative’s Name Here]

[Insert OFAC Division Name Here]

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20220

Submissions are also accepted by email, subject to the file size limitations discussed below, with

subsequent production in hardcopy to the address above expected unless told otherwise by the

OCE representative handling your case.

I. Preferred Practices for Organizing Document Productions in Response to

Administrative Subpoenas from OFAC:

1) Bates Numbering: Sequential pagination (i.e., Bates numbering) facilitates review of

submissions, and OCE prefers that any production to OCE include Bates numbers. Where

one or more submissions has already been made in relation to the investigation, Bates

numbers should continue sequentially from the final page of the immediately preceding

submission. For example, if the first submission delivered to OCE is Bates numbered ABC-

0000001 – ABC-0005267, the next submission should begin with ABC-0005268. All

submissions should have the same Bates numbering format (spaces, dashes, etc.) and the

same number of digits (i.e., start the next submission ABC-0005268 and not ABC0005268,

ABC 0005268, ABC-005268, or ABC-0000001).

2) Cover Letter: Provide a cover letter with each submission that includes a general

description of the documents, the custodian(s) for the documents, the Bates numbers

associated with the submission, and a summary of the records, images, emails, and

attachments contained in the submission. For example:

This disclosure includes [number] records, comprised of [number] email

communications for [individual A, B, C]/[entity A, B, C], [number] commercial

invoices, [number] contracts and contract revisions, payment records, compliance

manuals, etc. The documents are Bates numbered ABC-0000001 – ABC-0010000.

3) Exhibits and Narrative Document: Responding to OFAC subpoenas frequently requires the

production of supporting documentation, such as underlying transaction documents. These

types of documents should be submitted as exhibits and the overall submission should

contain a narrative document (“Narrative”) that identifies the relevance of each exhibit or

group of exhibits contained in the submission. Generally the exhibits should be numbered

in the order they appear in the Narrative. The Narrative should explain the relationship

between each exhibit and the information OCE has requested. For example, in response to a

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subpoena seeking information on a particular commercial transaction, the Narrative

document might state the following:

Exhibit 1 includes the commercial invoice for the transaction in question, identifying

[name] as the customer, the customer’s address, product description, quantity, unit

value, total sales value, and payment terms. Exhibit 2 is the bill of lading for the

shipment related to this transaction, identifying [name] as the consignee.

4) Exhibits List: Provide a list of all exhibits included in the submission (“Exhibits List”).

5) Organizing Submissions: Organize submissions in a logical and easy to understand manner.

Submissions should generally be organized by transaction or in the order of the requests

made by the administrative subpoena to which you are responding and not by custodian

(even if a submission contains records from multiple custodians). Subpoena respondents are

encouraged to discuss with OCE the most appropriate way to organize their submissions to

facilitate OCE’s review.

Submissions including records from multiple custodians generally should include

organizational charts and descriptions of the titles and responsibilities of all custodians as

well as of other key persons identified in the submission.

In addition, order the overall submission in a logical sequence (e.g., the cover letter,

followed by the Narrative, followed by the Exhibits List, followed by the exhibits).

6) Redactions: The legal basis for any redactions should be included in the Narrative.

Submissions including redactions should use clear pseudonyms for any redacted names

(e.g., Employee 1, Client 2) that are applied consistently across all submissions pertaining to

a given investigation.

7) Translations: Submit non-English language documents in both their original form and

language as well as in English via a certified translation.

8) Transaction Reporting: In cases in which it is appropriate to submit a list of transactions,

report transactions using the following steps:

a. Prepare a separate computer data file (i.e., Excel or Excel-compatible file) containing

the list of transactions.

b. Show all monetary amounts in the currency in which they were originally

denominated, the currency in which they are registered in the subpoena respondent’s

accounts, and, if neither are in U.S. dollars, in U.S. dollar equivalent with an

explanation of the conversion methodology.

c. Fields that should be included for each transaction include, but are not limited to:

relevant parties; the role each party played (e.g., distributor, end user); reference

numbers; the date; the amount; the currency; the value in U.S. dollars on the date of

the transaction; and the sanction(s) program or regulatory prohibition implicated. If

applicable to a transaction, include also the following additional fields: purchase

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order, invoice number, invoice date, invoice price, billing adjustments, net price, and

date of receipt of payment.

d. Notwithstanding the transaction reporting, the underlying documents for each

transaction generally should be included as exhibits, organized by transaction and in a

logical sequence, and adequately explained by the Narrative.

II. File Size and Delivery Instructions for Electronic Productions:

1) File Size Limitations: Please observe the following file size limitations:

a. For submissions using CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives, or thumb-drives, any

file/folder exceeding 30 megabytes in size will not be accepted. The submission may

contain any number of separate files/folders, but an individual file/folder must not

exceed 30 megabytes in size. Divide documents that exceed the 30 megabyte size

limit into two or more individual files that are each less than the 30 megabyte limit

and attach as separate files to the document submission. A single document of less

than the file size limit described above should not be broken into multiple

attachments.

b. When making submissions via email, the overall email (email message plus

attachment) size limit is 10 megabytes. Individual emails exceeding 10 megabytes in

size will not be accepted. The submission may contain any number of separate files,

but an individual email with attachments is constrained to 10 megabytes in size.

Divide emails and attachments that exceed the size limit into two or more individual

emails with attachments that are each less than the limit and send as separate

messages. A single document of less than 10 megabytes should not be broken into

multiple attachments.

2) Delivery Instructions: Please observe the following delivery instructions.

a. Deliver electronic submissions on CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives, thumb-drives, or

via email. The smallest number of media devices needed to deliver the data is

recommended. Clearly indicate the number of CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives, or

thumb drives (if applicable) with your submission.

b. Label all media submitted with, at least, the case number (if assigned), the submission

date, and the Bates numbers.

c. All attachments relating to a single submission should have the same root name.

d. Submissions may be comprised exclusively of PDF documents. However, in some

circumstances involving the production of a significant number of documents,

producing them as described in Sections IV, V, and VI below may be appropriate. In

these instances, please contact the OCE representative handling your case directly to

discuss the preferred document formats. If you produce your entire submission in

PDF documents, please combine all portions of the submission into a single file, as

long as the entire attachment does not exceed the file size limit (30 megabytes if

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submitting via CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives, or thumb-drives and 10 megabytes if

submitting via email). If a PDF production exceeds those file size limits, please use

logical break points. To the extent possible, avoid breaking attachments in the middle

of a document.

e. Provide all submissions free of computer viruses, consistent with Federal law.

f. Provide under separate cover from the cover letter for the electronic submission all

passwords for documents, files, or compressed archives provided in the submission.

g. Only encrypt and compress files using the Zip format compatible with WinZip. Other

encryption and compression formats are not supported. Additionally, for security, do

not submit encrypted data with a third-party decryption application.

III. PDF Documents:

The preferred application for PDF files is Adobe Acrobat. In addition to the instructions

regarding submission file size in Section II, please also follow the following instructions:

1) All PDFs should contain embedded text to include all discernible words within the

document, not selected text.

2) Optical Character Recognition (OCR) should be run on all PDF files.

3) Each PDF file should have an image-quality resolution of no less than 300dpi (dots per

inch).

IV. Paper Documents:

For documents that were originally in paper hardcopy and then were scanned into a digital format

for submission to OCE, please submit as image files following these guidelines:

1) Image files: Submit images as CCITT 6.0 (Group 4 Compression) .JPG files (single or

multi-page files). Images submitted as .TIF are also acceptable provided they have

complete 24-bit color depth or B&W raster and at least 80% compression. Include a Bates

number with each image. The number of files per folder is limited to 1,000 files.

2) OCR: OCR text is preferred and may be delivered in either of two ways:

a. OCR text may be delivered as multi-page ASCII files. The name of the file needs to

match the IMAGEID field.

a. OCR text may be included in the delimited text file (OCRTEXT field).

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If possible (regardless of delivery method), please place page markers at the beginning

or end of each OCR text page as shown:

*** LA000001 *** (example)

The data surrounded by *** is the Image IMAGElD.

V. Email Collections:

OCE uses Concordance for its internal eDiscovery processes. Submissions to OCE of email

collections via delimited text files with images and native attachments for Concordance is most

compatible with OCE’s systems. Email collections may also be submitted as an MS Outlook

.PST files, native to MS Outlook. Include with the submission any passwords or decryption

instructions. For Concordance productions, please refer to the Technical Addendum.

VI. Native Files:

The preferred submission format for textual documents is MS Word and the preferred format for

spreadsheet documents is MS Excel.

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Technical Addendum

As a supplement to the instructions in Section V, please note that OCE uses Concordance v10.21

and Concordance Image v5.15 for its internal eDiscovery processes. If you are unable to provide

your electronic document production in the formats outlined below or have questions regarding

formatting requirements, please consult OCE.

I. General Requirements

1) Native attachment files: Provide a copy of the email and native attachment files. The

number of native files per folder is limited to 1,000 files.

2) Image files:

a. Include a Bates number with each image. The number of .JPG files per folder is

limited to 1,000 files.

b. Concordance Image Load File: The Concordance Image Load File is a comma-

delimited file consisting of seven fields per line. Include a line in the Load File for

every image in the database. The format for the file is as follows:

i. IMAGElD: The unique designation that Concordance and Concordance

Image use to identify an image.

ii. VolumeLabel: Optional.

iii. ImageFilePath: The file path to the image file.

iv. DocumentBreak: If this field contains the letter “Y,” this is the first page

of a document. If this field is blank, this page is not the first page of a

document.

v. FolderBreak: Leave empty.

vi. BoxBreak: Leave empty.

vii. PageCount: Optional.

3) Extracted text: Extract the text and metadata of the email and the attachment(s), enter in the

appropriate fields, and provide as an ASCII delimited text file. The email will be the

“parent” and the attachment(s) will be the “child.” If there is more than one attachment, list

the first Bates number of each attachment and separate each by a semi-colon (“;”).

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a. An ASCII delimited file is a file containing the metadata associated with the native

file, text extracted from the native file, and a directory path to the native file. Include

in the delimited text file a header record. Structure the delimiters for the file as

follows, otherwise the file will be not be accepted:

i. Comma: ASCII character 20

ii. Quote: ASCII character 254

iii. Newline: ASCII character 174

b. When the full text is not provided in the ASCII delimited text file or if text exceeds

12MB in the “text” field, text files may be delivered as multi-page ASCII files.

Match the name of each file with the image key field. OCR any document in which

text cannot be extracted, particularly any PDFs without embedded text.

II. Database Submissions

1) Concordance users: Concordance has built-in functionality to export data into a combined

database file to more easily transfer large record sets. This file will package all documents

and associated data columns based on a predefined search filter, and can be incrementally

added to as more responsive records are located.

a. Data Field Requirements

Data Field

Name:

Description: Example:

1* BEGNO First Bates numbe

ABC-0000001

2* ENDNO Last Bates numbe

ABC-0000250

3 BEGATTACH

First Bates number for any

attachments

ABC-0000025

4 ENDATTACH

Last Bates number for any

attachments

ABC-0000029

5* PAGECOUNT

Number of total pages per

document

249

6* AUTHOR

The author of the

document

John Doe

7* CREATEDATE

The original creation date

of the document

02/27/2013

(MM/DD/YYYY

Format)

8* DOCTYPE The type of document

TEXT or PDF or

equired

ield

or entr

into Concordance database

2) All Others: Please contact OCE.