Proposed regulations dealing with the anti-Arab boycott law “seriously undermine” Congressional intent in passing the law, Rep. Joshua Eilberg (D.Pa.) charged today. In a strongly worded protest to the Commerce Department, Eilberg said the proposed regulations “might allow widespread evasion of the purpose of the law.” The regulations are scheduled to go into effect Jan. 18.
Eilberg called on Secretary of Commerce Juanita M. Kreps to review the guidelines before they take effect. “As things stand now, the Department, in writing regulations for Congressionally authorized exceptions to the rules, has turned the exceptions into the rules,” Eilberg wrote to Ms. Kreps.
He cited three sections of the proposed regulations, which, he said, are “contrary to the clearly stated intent of Congress when it enacted the anti-boycott legislation.” Eilberg said that Congress sought to prohibit a U.S. citizen from aiding a foreign buyer who makes a purchase based on boycott-related considerations.
“But the proposed regulations,” he said, “apparently would allow a U.S. citizen to lend invaluable assistance in the form of management, procurement, and other pre-award services before a foreign buyer makes his purchase.” In addition, Eilberg said, Congress exempted from the anti-boycott law any U.S. citizen on foreign soil who imports goods “for his own use.”
Eilberg said the regulations proposed by the Commerce Department define goods “for his own use” as goods for manufacturing other products, and goods for resale to other persons. “Clearly, Congress did not mean this broad a definition of ‘for his own use,’ “Eilberg told Ms. Kreps.
Eilberg also attacked the proposed regulations for including a “risk of loss” clause, declaring that, under this provision, “a seller’s liability for his goods would not end when he delivers his merchandise to a carrier chosen by the purchaser, as is the case in normal commercial transactions.
“Instead,” the Congressman said, “the seller’s liability would continue until his goods reached and passed through customs in a foreign port of entry. Insistence on such a clause would have the chilling effect of preventing blacklisted companies from fairly competing for business in the Arab world, ” he said. Eilberg asked the Secretary of Commerce for a “prompt response indicating the action you intend to take in this matter.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
