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.

Examples The following examples are intended to give guidance in determining what is reportable. They are illustrative, not comprehensive. (i) A, a U.S. manufacturer, is shipping goods to boycotting country Y and is asked by Y to certify that it is not blacklisted by Y's boycott office. The request to A is reportable, because it is a request to A to comply with Y's boycott requirements. (ii) A, a U.S. manufacturing company, receives an order for tractors from boycotting country Y. Y's order specifies that the tires on the tractors be made by B, another U.S. company.

Examples The following examples are intended to give guidance to persons in determining circumstances in which this section will apply. They are illustrative, not comprehensive. (i) A, a U.S. insurance company, receives a request from boycotting country Y asking whether it does business in boycotted country X. Because furnishing such information is prohibited, A declines to answer and as a result is placed on Y's blacklist. The following year, A's annual report contains new information about A's worldwide operations, including a list of all countries in which A does business.

Examples of Compliance With Import Requirements of a Boycotting Country The following examples are intended to give guidance in determining the circumstances in which compliance with the import requirements of a boycotting country is permissible. They are illustrative, not comprehensive. (i) A, a U.S. manufacturer, receives an order from boycotting country Y for its products. Country X is boycotted by country Y, and the import laws of Y prohibit the importation of goods produced or manufactured in X. In filling this type of order, A would usually include some component parts produced in X.