Important Information on US Sanctions Against Iran, Crimea, North Korea, Cuba, and Syria
Updated: April 1, 2021
We at the SCA care deeply about supporting and providing high-quality coffee education, events, and research to local coffee communities around the world. As an international association, we have an obligation to our members to ensure our organization operates within the law.
Current US law requires us to comply with a variety of US sanctions and regulations which prohibit the SCA and anyone representing the SCA or our products from providing member services, such as benefits, news updates, competitions, events, and education courses or certifications to people or businesses operating within the following countries and regions:
Iran
Crimea region of Ukraine
North Korea
Cuba
Syria
The SCA is a US-based nonprofit organization, exempt from tax under IRC 501(c)(6) and organized under the laws of California as a mutual benefit corporation, and therefore subject to the laws of the United States Government.
This means that the SCA, World Coffee Events (WCE), Authorized SCA Trainers (ASTs), and other SCA representatives cannot provide any services— including events, competitions, training, and membership— to someone who usually lives in the countries or regions listed above. It also means that SCA staff and anyone representing the SCA cannot travel to these places to provide SCA services. However, if a customer of Iranian, Crimean, North Korean, Cuba, or Syrian origin usually resides in another country, then they are eligible to receive SCA services, like SCA courses and certificates.
Status of exemption request
The leadership of the SCA and WCE submitted an application for exemptions to the sanctions from the relevant government agencies, and those requests were unfortunately denied. We will continue to seek opportunities for licensure and sanction exemptions, as the environment is constantly evolving. There are serious legal consequences for companies and organizations that break this law that include fines and incarceration so we must take these prohibitions very seriously.
Has the SCA banned people from these countries?
We want to be very clear: The SCA has not banned anyone from the above-listed countries and regions. The SCA is a nonprofit association registered in the United States and has an obligation to its members to adhere to the law. The SCA's mission is to support specialty coffee communities in every corner of the world and we stand firmly against any laws that seek to divide us.
What does this mean for Authorized SCA Trainers?
All ASTs are advised to request a residential address from all students prior to teaching a course. If the student’s residential address is in one of the countries/region listed above, the AST cannot provide SCA education courses to that student.
Additionally, we have made changes to the Education Certificate Request Form to make it simple to collect residential address information from students. This information will be required for all students in order for SCA staff to process invoices and certificate requests.
ASTs with questions about these prohibitions may contact the SCA Education team using the contact form at sca.coffee/education
What does this mean for competitions?
World Coffee Events (WCE) is a company owned by the SCA and must also comply with US sanctions on the countries and regions listed on this page. However, competitors of Iranian, Crimean, North Korean, Cuba, or Syrian origin who usually reside in another country are able to participate in events as normal.
Get in Touch
We stand firmly against any laws that seek to divide us, and are constantly monitoring the status of these sanctions, to look for opportunities to include all regions and valued members of our global coffee community.
If you have general questions about the US prohibitions, please get in touch with us using the contact form below.