The Commerce Department has accused seven relatively small American corporations with knowingly violating federal law by failing to report requests to take part in the Arab boycott of Israel. The department declared last Friday it had “reasonable cause to believe” that the seven firms were asked to join in the boycott and did not file reports on those approaches. There is no penalty for compliance, only for not reporting requests to comply.
The seven firms may contest the charges. A Department spokesman said a variety of penalties may be applied if the firms are found guilty. Export privileges could be withdrawn for minor violations. Major violations will be turned over to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution with possible fines of up to $10,000 and jail terms of up to 10 years for those found guilty.
The firms named by the Commerce Department were Henry Stern and Co., Hartsdale, N.Y.; L and M Export Co.. Downey, Calif.; Longhorn Machine Works, Houston; M. Swift and Sons, Hartford; Pako Corp., Minneapolis; Stafford Miller Export, Jersey City; and Wilk Industries, New York. An earlier Commerce Department statement listed 24,710 reported transactions with Arab countries in which demands were made for boycott compliance. The data covered the period from Oct. 1, 1975 to March 31, 1976, the latest period for which such data were available.
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