The Bureau is charged with administering and enforcing the Antiboycott Laws under the Export Administration Act. Those laws discourage, and in some circumstances, prohibit U.S. companies from furthering or supporting the boycott of Israel sponsored by the Arab League, and certain Moslem countries, including complying with certain requests for information designed to verify compliance with the boycott. Compliance with such requests may be prohibited by the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and may be reportable to the Bureau.
Boycott Alert
U.S. companies continue to report receiving requests to engage in activities that further or support the boycott of Israel. U.S. companies may receive similar requests in the future. If you have questions, please call (202) 482-2381 and ask for the Duty Officer or you may contact us by email.
Antiboycott Compliance Requirements
Antiboycott Laws, Objectives, and Primary Impact Who is covered by the Antiboycott Laws? What actions the laws prohibit? What must be reported to the Office of Antiboycott Compliance? How to report? Penalties for violations of the laws? Where to get more information? Boycott Request Reporting Forms Antiboycott Laws:
During the mid-1970's the United States adopted two laws that seek to counteract the participation of U.S. citizens in other nation's economic boycotts or embargoes. These "antiboycott" laws are the 1977 amendments to the Export Administration Act (EAA) and the Ribicoff Amendment to the 1976 Tax Reform Act (TRA). While these laws share a common purpose, there are distinctions in their administration.
Objectives:
The antiboycott laws were adopted to encourage, and in specified cases, require U.S. firms to refuse to participate in foreign boycotts that the United States does not sanction. They have the effect of preventing U.S. firms from being used to implement foreign policies of other nations which run counter to U.S. policy.
Primary Impact:
The Arab League boycott of Israel is the principal foreign economic boycott that U.S. companies must be concerned with today. The antiboycott laws, however, apply to all boycotts imposed by foreign countries that are unsanctioned by the United States.
Who Is Covered by the Laws?
The antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) apply to the activities of U.S. persons in the interstate or foreign commerce of the United States. The term "U.S. person" includes all individuals, corporations and unincorporated associations resident in the United States, including the permanent domestic affiliates of foreign concerns. U.S. persons also include U.S. citizens abroad (except when they reside abroad and are employed by non-U.S. persons) and the controlled in fact affiliates of domestic concerns. The test for "controlled in fact" is the ability to establish the general policies or to control the day to day operations of the foreign affiliate.
The scope of the EAR, as defined by Section 8 of the EAA, is limited to actions taken with intent to comply with, further, or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott.
What do the Laws Prohibit?
Conduct that may be penalized under the TRA and/or prohibited under the EAR includes:
* Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies.
* Agreements to discriminate or actual discrimination against other persons based on race, religion, sex, national origin or nationality.
* Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about business relationships with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies.
* Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about the race, religion, sex, or national origin of another person.
Implementing letters of credit containing prohibited boycott terms or conditions.
The TRA does not "prohibit" conduct, but denies tax benefits ("penalizes") for certain types of boycott-related agreements.
What Must Be Reported?
The EAR requires U.S. persons to report quarterly requests they have received to take certain actions to comply with, further, or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott.
The TRA requires taxpayers to report "operations" in, with, or related to a boycotting country or its nationals and requests received to participate in or cooperate with an international boycott. The Treasury Department publishes a quarterly list of "boycotting countries. " How To Report:
The EAR requires reports of receipts of boycott requests to be filed quarterly on form BIS 621-P for single transactions or BIS 6051P for multiple transactions received in the same calendar quarter.
The forms are available on-line in a fillable pdf format, or you may still obtain paper forms. Go to the forms section located on this page. To obtain paper copies by U.S. mail, call the Office of Antiboycott Compliance in Washington, DC at (202) 482-2448.
TRA reports are filed with tax returns on IRS form 5713. This form is available from local IRS offices.
Penalties:
The Export Admnistration Act (EAA) specifies penalties for violations of the Antiboycott Regulations as well as export control violations. These can include: Criminal:
The penalties imposed for each "knowing" violation can be a fine of up to $50,000 or five times the value of the exports involved, whichever is greater, and imprisonment of up to five years. During periods when the EAR are continued in effect by an Executive Order issued pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the criminal penalties for each "willful" violation can be a fine of up to $50,000 and imprisonment for up to ten years.
Administrative:
For each violation of the EAR any or all of the following may be imposed:
* General denial of export privileges; * The imposition of fines of up to $11,000 per violation; and/or * Exclusion from practice.
Boycott agreements under the TRA involve the denial of all or part of the foreign tax benefits discussed above.
When the EAA is in lapse, penalties for violation of the Antiboycott Regulations are governed by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The IEEPA Enhancement Act provides for penalties of up to the greater of $250,000 per violation or twice the value of the transaction for administrative violations of Antiboycott Regulations, and up to $1 million and 20 years imprisonment per violation for criminal antiboycott violations.
Where to Get More Information:
U.S. Department of Commerce BIS/Office of Antiboycott Compliance Room 6098 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230 (202) 482-2381 or by E-Mail
Department of the Treasury Office of the General Counsel Room 2004 Washington, D.C. 20220 (202) 622-1945 Examples of Boycott Requests
Recent examples of boycott requests that have been reported to the Office of Antiboycott Compliance.
Antiboycott Regulations
Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations:
Part 760 Restrictive Trade Practices and Boycotts [pdf 498KB] Part 762 Record keeping [pdf 30KB] Part 764 Enforcement and Protective Measures [pdf 68KB] Part 766 Administrative Enforcement Proceedings [pdf 96KB] These parts are also available in an ASCII format from the Regulations Web site located at the Government Printing Office Final Rule Amending Part 760 [June 1, 2000][PDF 149KB]
New Service Available...If you would like to be informed when changes occur to the Antiboycott information on our site, consider subscribing to the BIS Email Notification Service.
Boycott Request Reporting Forms
To gain access to electronic forms necessary to report your receipt of a boycott request to the Bureau of Industry and Security's Office of Antiboycott Compliance, click on the links below. You have the option of printing your own forms from this Web site, or continuing to use the paper/carbon-paper version which is available by mail by telephone request to our Report Processing Unit (202) 482-2448.
When the links open, you may, at your option, fill-in the form and then print a paper copy of the completed form (although it may not be saved for future editing in its electronic format), or you may print a blank form and complete it by either typing or neatly printing your responses to the individual questions on the form in ink. When the form is complete, you will need to make a photocopy of your completed form and attach required documentation (as explained in the following "Instructions" page) before sending it to the Office of Antiboycott Compliance at the address printed on each form. The U.S. mail or courier delivery are the accepted modes of transmission. Electronic transmission is not available at this time.
You have the option of filing a single transaction form for each reportable boycott request you receive, or filing a multiple transaction form for up to 75 reportable requests received within a single reporting period.
Links to BIS forms for reporting receipts of boycott requests:
1. Form BIS-621P (Report of Request for Restrictive Trade Practice or Boycott - - Single Transaction)
2. Form BIS-6051P (Report of Request for Restrictive Trade Practice or Boycott - - Multiple Transactions), Sheet No. 1
3. Form BIS-6051P-a (Report of Request for Restrictive Trade Practice or Boycott - - Multiple Transactions (Continuation Sheet))
If you have questions about compliance with the Commerce Department's reporting requirements concerning receipts of boycott requests, you should first consult Export Administration Regulations Section 760.5, which is entitled, "Reporting Requirements." Additional guidance about reporting boycott requests may be found in the attached Instructions and on the actual report forms. If, after consulting these resources, you still have questions, please contact us through our Web query page or call us on (202) 482-2381.
Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino announced that "President Bush will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and John Howard of Australia." Perino noted that the three leaders have been strong allies of Bush foreign policy:
The President is honoring these leaders for their work to improve the lives of their citizens and for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad. All three leaders have been staunch allies of the United States, particularly in combating terrorism. And their efforts to bring hope and freedom to people around the globe have made their nations, America and the world community a safer and more secure world.
Watch it:
Support for the Iraq war has become a good predictor of whether one will receive the president's highest honor. Past recipients include neoconservative godfather Norm Podhoretz (2003), L. Paul Bremer (2004), Gen. Tommy Franks (2004), Gen. Richard Myers (2005), George Tenet (2004), and Gen. Peter Pace (2008)
Given this standard, there are no better recipients than Howard and Blair. Howard joined Bush's Coalition of the Willing and kept a large number of Australian troops in Iraq until his defeat last year (largely due to his support of the Iraq war). In September 2007, he stated, "We have no closer alliance with any country in the world than we have with the United States."
Similarly, Blair, derided in Britain as "Bush's poodle," had been Bush's strongest Western ally and pushed the invasion of Iraq. "We're not making it worse, they (terrorists) are making it worse," he said, offering no regrets for supporting the war. Recently, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
Uribe also joined Bush in contributing forces to the Coalition of the Willing.
Sarkozy, Merkel, Blair call for new capitalism
Category: News and Politics
Measures will be taken at the G-20 meeting in London on April 2, Sarkozy promised, saying "we cannot accept the status quo."
Sarkozy, Merkel, Blair call for new capitalism
By EMMA VANDORE, AP Business Writer
PARIS – The leaders of France and Germany appeared to put disagreements over economic policy behind them Thursday, calling on the U.S. to join global efforts to address the financial crisis.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, leading a two-day conference with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the future of capitalism, said the crisis has shown that no country can go it alone on economic policy.
"In the 21st century, there it is no longer a single nation who can say what we should do or what we should think," he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the system "cannot continue as it is" and called for better-regulated financial markets.
European leaders will meet in Berlin before the G-20 summit in London to decide a common approach as global leaders gear up for a second meeting on the global financial crisis, Sarkozy said.
Gas crisis threatens industry in Eastern Europe
Category: News and Politics
Gas crisis threatens industry in Eastern Europe
By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press Writer
BUDAPEST, Hungary – From salami makers to fertilizer producers, industries in Eastern Europe are being forced to cut output as the shut-off in Russian gas supplies risks deepening the economic crisis already plaguing the region.
Manufacturers in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia were among countries most affected by government-decreed gas rationing or outright shortages after all Russian gas deliveries through Ukraine were cut off for a second day on Thursday.
Slovakia, which depends fully on Russian gas and declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, ordered 1,000 companies across the country, including the local plants of South Korea's KIA Motors Corp and France's PSA Peugeot Citroen, to reduce their consumption levels to have enough gas for households, hospital and schools.
Bulgarian Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov said 152 companies have reported losses totaling to euro4.3 million ($5.9 million) per day because of the forced interruptions.
European pessimism grows as U.S. retail disappoints
Category: News and Politics
European pessimism grows as U.S. retail disappoints
By Matt Daily and Richard Hubbard
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Economic weakness in Europe worsened and disappointing sales from Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, knocked financial markets lower on Thursday, strengthening the case for government stimulus and new rate cuts.
The Bank of England, which cut its key interest rate to a historic low of 1.5 percent, said the world economy appeared to be undergoing an unusually sharp and synchronized downturn.
"Measures of business and consumer confidence have fallen markedly. World trade growth this year is likely to be the weakest for some considerable time," the British central bank said in a statement.
<B><font size="+1">Shooting of unarmed man by Oakland, Calif., officer sparks anger
Category: News and Politics
Shooting by Oakland, Calif., officer sparks anger
By TERRY COLLINS, Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. – Mayor Ron Dellums urged residents to remain calm after protests turned violent in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a transit police officer.
What had started as a peaceful demonstration Wednesday over the Jan. 1 shooting of Oscar Grant escalated into trouble. At least three cars were set on fire, many other automobiles were damaged, and windows were broken on some downtown stores.
Police in riot gear threw tear gas to try to break up the demonstration. At least 14 people were arrested before the unrest ebbed overnight.
Grant, 22, was killed on a Bay Area Rapid Transit station platform after officers went there amid reports about groups of men fighting on a train. He was one of a small group of men taken off the train, and officers had made him lie face down at the time he was killed.
Download New TSOL album FREE! No registration!
Category: News and Politics
From: TSOL Date: Jan 8, 2009 11:12 AM
Thats right Kiddies the record is up, and its free, so take it . Enjoy it. Tell your friends. Spread the good news! Hurley has made this very easy, nothing to fill out, or register for (unless you want to win the guitar Ron played on the record) Just click and its yours...easy...pain free...A nice T.S.O.L record of Brand new songs. Go to this adress:
And click free download. While your there please take a look at some of the causes we support. Heres some early reviews of the record.
"Just wanted to say that the new album is fantastic! I hope you guys come to Philly or NJ!...john from the east coast
"THANX FOR YOUR RECORD ,REALLY THANK YOU.
TSOL COME TO MEXICO PLEASE ,PLEASE PLAY IN MEXICO. "
"awesome all tracks rock!" punk rock gal
"A ray of sunlight at the end of a shit day! ALL 10 tracks are ace!!! Mucho thanks for that!!" steven
"listening to the new cd right now its fucking awesome you guys still sound great. " Mr Weirdo
And if you can do us a favor, please spread the word. We do not get paid for you downloading this record, what we get is the opportunity to make a cool record, give it to you for free, and maybe someone contributes to the people we care about!!
Welcome to the Brave New World of "cognitive enhancement"
Category: News and Politics
It seems taking Soma Holidays has become more socially acceptable.
"There's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that's what soma is." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 17
Popping Smart Pills: The Case for Cognitive Enhancement
By MAIA SZALAVITZ – Tue Jan 6, 3:15 pm ET
A 40-year-old high-level e-commerce executive in the Pacific Northwest - we'll call him Bob - felt he was losing his edge. Although his colleagues saw him as a star, he feared he wouldn't be able to continue the lightning pace and constant multitasking his job required. So he saw his doctor. Now Bob takes Adderall, a prescription amphetamine ordinarily used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
"It gives me clarity of thinking and focus," says Bob. He credits the drug with improving both his career and his personal relationships. "I am still getting accolades," he says. He was initially wary of taking any substance with a so-called black-box warning, he says, but after nine months of using Adderall under close supervision by his doctor, he has not developed an addiction, required a dose increase or had any other adverse effects.
Welcome to the brave new world of "cognitive enhancement," a term that typically refers to the use of attention- or memory-boosting prescription drugs, such as Adderall, Ritalin and modafinil (Provigil), along with other performance-raising medications, to improve productivity. College kids have been doing it for years. About 7% of U.S. university students report having taken stimulants "nonmedically" at least once, according to a 2005 study of nearly 11,000 students. On some campuses - primarily private, Élite schools - a full quarter of students admit to nonmedical drug use in the past year, mainly in an attempt to improve grades.
