(a) The words “Persian Gulf” cannot appear on the document. This term is common in letters of credit from Kuwait and may be found in letters of credit from Bahrain. Although more commonly appearing in letters of credit, the term may also appear in other trade documents. It is the Department's view that this term reflects a historical dispute between the Arabs and the Iranians over geographic place names which in no way relates to existing economic boycotts. Thus, the term is neither prohibited nor reportable under the Regulations. (b) Certify that goods are of U.S.A.

Activities Exclusively Within a Boycotting Country—Furnishing Information § 760.3(h) of this part provides that a United States person who is a bona fide resident of a boycotting country may comply with the laws of that country with respect to his or her activities exclusively within the boycotting country. Among the types of conduct permitted by this exception is “furnishing information within the host country” § 760.3(h)(1)(v) of this part.

Definition of Interstate or Foreign Commerce of the United States When United States persons (as defined by the antiboycott regulations) located within the United States purchase or sell goods or services located outside the United States, they have engaged in an activity within the foreign commerce of the United States. Although the goods or services may never physically come within the geographic boundaries of the several states or territories of the United States, legal ownership or title is transferred from a foreign nation to the United States person who is located in the United States.

Prohibited Refusal To Do Business When a boycotting country rejects for boycott-related reasons a shipment of goods sold by a United States person, the United States person selling the goods may return them to its inventory or may re-ship them to other markets (the United States person may not return them to the original supplier and demand restitution). The U.S. person may then make a non-boycott based selection of another supplier and provide the goods necessary to meet its obligations to the boycotting customer in that particular transaction without violating § 760.2(a) of this part.

The antiboycott regulations prohibit knowing agreements to comply with certain prohibited requests and requirements of boycotting countries, regardless of how these terms are stated. Similarly, the reporting rules require that a boycott related “solicitation, directive, legend or instruction that asks for information or that asks that a United States person take or refrain from taking a particular action” be reported.

A. Permissible Furnishing of Information The information outlined below may be furnished in response to boycott-related requests from boycotting countries or others. This information is, in the view of the Department, not prohibited by the Regulations. Thus, a person does not have to qualify under any of the exceptions to be able to make the following statements. Such statements can be made, however, only by the person indicated and under the circumstances described.

The question has arisen how the definition of U.S. commerce in the antiboycott regulations (15 CFR part 760) applies to a shipment of foreign-made goods when U.S.-origin spare parts are included in the shipment. Specifically, if the shipment of foreign goods falls outside the definition of U.S. commerce, will the inclusion of U.S.-origin spare parts bring the entire transaction into U.S. commerce? Section 760.1(d)(12) provides the general guidelines for determining when U.S.-origin goods shipped from a controlled in fact foreign subsidiary are outside U.S. commerce.

Pursuant to Article 2, Annex II of the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, Egypt's participation in the Arab economic boycott of Israel was formally terminated on January 25, 1980. On the basis of this action, it is the Department's position that certain requests for information, action or agreement which were considered boycott-related by implication now cannot be presumed boycott-related and thus would not be prohibited or reportable under the Regulations.

1 The Department originally issued this interpretation on April 21, 1978 (43 FR 16969) pursuant to the Export Administration Amendments Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-52) and the regulations on restrictive trade practices and boycotts (15 CFR part 369) published on January 25, 1978 (43 FR 3508) and contained in the 15 CFR edition revised as of January 1, 1979. The Department hereby sets forth its views on whether the furnishing of certain shipping and insurance certificates in compliance with boycotting country requirements violates the provisions of section 8 of the Export Administration Act of

1 The Department originally issued this interpretation pursuant to the Export Administration Amendments Act of 1979 (Public Law 95-52) and the regulations on restrictive trade practices and boycotts (15 CFR part 369) published on January 25, 1978 (43 FR 3508) and contained in the 15 CFR edition revised as of January 1, 1979. It has come to the Department's attention that some U.S. persons are being or may be asked to comply with new boycotting country requirements with respect to shipping and insurance certifications and certificates of origin.