Supplement No. 16 to Part 760 - Interpretation

Supplement No. 16 to Part 760 - Interpretation

Pursuant to Articles 5, 7, and 26 of the Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and implementing legislation enacted by Jordan, Jordan's participation in the Arab economic boycott of Israel was formally terminated on August 16, 1995.

On the basis of this action, it is the Department's position that certain requests for information, action or agreement from Jordan which were considered boycott-related by implication now cannot be presumed boycott-related and thus would not be prohibited or reportable under the regulations. For example, a request that an exporter certify that the vessel on which it is shipping its goods is eligible to enter Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ports has been considered a boycott-related request that the exporter could not comply with because Jordan has had a boycott in force against Israel. Such a request from Jordan after August 16, 1995 would not be presumed boycott-related because the underlying boycott requirement/basis for the certification has been eliminated. Similarly, a U.S. company would not be prohibited from complying with a request received from Jordanian government officials to furnish the place of birth of employees the company is seeking to take to Jordan because there is no underlying boycott law or policy that would give rise to a presumption that the request was boycott-related.

U.S. persons are reminded that requests that are on their face boycott-related or that are for action obviously in furtherance or support of an unsanctioned foreign boycott are subject to the regulations, irrespective of the country of origin. For example, requests containing references to “blacklisted companies”, “Israel boycott list”, “non-Israeli goods” or other phrases or words indicating boycott purpose would be subject to the appropriate provisions of the Department's antiboycott regulations.