I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2589 

To prohibit certain activities in support of the Arab League boycott of 

Israel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 19, 2011 

Mr. BERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit certain activities in support of the Arab League 

boycott of Israel, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Antiboycott Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. ANTIBOYCOTT PROVISIONS. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 

7 (1) the Arab League boycott of Israel, and the 

8 secondary boycott of United States firms that have 

9 commercial ties with Israel, are an impediment to 


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1 investment, trade, economic development, and peace 

2 in the Middle East and North Africa; 

3 (2) it is in the common interest of the people 

4 of Israel and the Arab states that the Arab League 

5 boycott be terminated, that the Central Office for 

6 the Boycott of Israel be closed, and that Arab 

7 League states normalize relations with their neigh8 bor Israel; and 

9 (3) the President, the Secretary of State, and 

10 the Secretary of Commerce should continue to vigor11 ously oppose the Arab League boycott of Israel and 

12 use the authorities enacted into law by Congress to 

13 take concrete steps to seek an end to the Arab 

14 League boycott. 

15 (b) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States— 

16 (1) to oppose restrictive trade practices or boy17 cotts fostered or imposed by foreign countries 

18 against other countries friendly to the United States 

19 or against any United States person; 

20 (2) to encourage and, in specified cases, require 

21 United States persons engaged in the export of 

22 goods or technology or other information to refuse to 

23 take actions, including furnishing information or en24 tering into or implementing agreements, which have 

25 the effect of furthering or supporting the restrictive 


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1 trade practices or boycotts fostered or imposed by 

2 any foreign country against a country friendly to the 

3 United States or against any United States person; 

4 and 

5 (3) to foster international cooperation and the 

6 development of international rules and institutions 

7 to assure reasonable access to world supplies. 

8 (c) PROHIBITIONS AND EXCEPTIONS.— 

9 (1) PROHIBITIONS.—In order to carry out the 

10 purposes set forth in subsection (b), the Secretary of 

11 Commerce (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec12 retary’’) shall issue regulations prohibiting any 

13 United States person, with respect to that person’s 

14 activities in the interstate or foreign commerce of 

15 the United States, from taking or knowingly agree16 ing to take any of the following actions with intent 

17 to comply with, further, or support any boycott fos18 tered or imposed by a foreign country against a 

19 country that is friendly to the United States and is 

20 not itself the object of any form of boycott pursuant 

21 to United States law or regulation: 

22 (A) Refusing, or requiring any other per23 son to refuse, to do business with or in the boy24 cotted country, with any business concern orga25 nized under the laws of the boycotted country, 


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1 with any national or resident of the boycotted 

2 country, or with any other person, pursuant to 

3 an agreement with, or requirement of, or a re4 quest from or on behalf of the boycotting coun5 try. The mere absence of a business relationship 

6 with or in the boycotted country with any busi7 ness concern organized under the laws of the 

8 boycotted country, with any national or resident 

9 of the boycotted country, or with any other per10 son, does not indicate the existence of the in11 tent required to establish a violation of regula12 tions issued to carry out this subparagraph. 

13 (B) Refusing, or requiring any other per14 son to refuse, to employ or otherwise discrimi15 nate against any United States person on the 

16 basis of the race, religion, sex, or national ori17 gin of that person or of any owner, officer, di18 rector, or employee of such person. 

19 (C) Furnishing information with respect to 

20 the race, religion, sex, or national origin of any 

21 United States person or of any owner, officer, 

22 director, or employee of such person. 

23 (D) Furnishing information about whether 

24 any person has, has had, or proposes to have 

25 any business relationship (including a relationVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:28 Jul 20, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2589.IH H2589

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1 ship by way of sale, purchase, legal or commer2 cial representation, shipping or other transport, 

3 insurance, investment, or supply) with or in the 

4 boycotted country, with any business concern 

5 organized under the laws of the boycotted coun6 try, with any national or resident of the boy7 cotted country, or with any other person which 

8 is known or believed to be restricted from hav9 ing any business relationship with or in the boy10 cotting country. Nothing in this subparagraph 

11 shall prohibit the furnishing of normal business 

12 information in a commercial context as defined 

13 by the Secretary. 

14 (E) Furnishing information about whether 

15 any person is a member of, has made a con16 tribution to, or is otherwise associated with or 

17 involved in the activities of any charitable or 

18 fraternal organization that supports the boy19 cotted country. 

20 (F) Paying, honoring, confirming, or other21 wise implementing a letter of credit that con22 tains any condition or requirement the compli23 ance with which is prohibited by regulations 

24 issued pursuant to this paragraph, and no 

25 United States person shall, as a result of the 


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1 application of this paragraph, be obligated to 

2 pay or otherwise honor or implement such letter 

3 of credit. 

4 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Regulations issued pursuant 

5 to paragraph (1) may provide exceptions for— 

6 (A) compliance, or agreement to comply, 

7 with requirements— 

8 (i) prohibiting the import of items 

9 from the boycotted country or items pro10 duced or provided, by any business concern 

11 organized under the laws of the boycotted 

12 country or by nationals or residents of the 

13 boycotted country; or 

14 (ii) prohibiting the shipment of items 

15 to the boycotting country on a carrier of 

16 the boycotted country or by a route other 

17 than that prescribed by the boycotting 

18 country or the recipient of the shipment; 

19 (B) compliance, or agreement to comply, 

20 with import and shipping document require21 ments with respect to the country of origin, the 

22 name of the carrier and route of shipment, the 

23 name of the supplier of the shipment, or the 

24 name of the provider of other services, except 

25 that, for purposes of applying any exception 


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1 under this subparagraph, no information know2 ingly furnished or conveyed in response to such 

3 requirements may be stated in negative, black4 listing, or similar exclusionary terms, other 

5 than with respect to carriers or route of ship6 ment as may be permitted by such regulations 

7 in order to comply with precautionary require8 ments protecting against war risks and confis9 cation; 

10 (C) compliance, or agreement to comply, in 

11 the normal course of business with the unilat12 eral and specific selection by a boycotting coun13 try, or a national or resident thereof, of car14 riers, insurers, suppliers of services to be per15 formed within the boycotting country, or spe16 cific items which, in the normal course of busi17 ness, are identifiable by source when imported 

18 into the boycotting country; 

19 (D) compliance, or agreement to comply, 

20 with export requirements of the boycotting 

21 country relating to shipment or transshipment 

22 of exports to the boycotted country, to any busi23 ness concern of or organized under the laws of 

24 the boycotted country, or to any national or 

25 resident of the boycotted country; 


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1 (E) compliance by an individual, or agree2 ment by an individual to comply, with the immi3 gration or passport requirements of any country 

4 with respect to such individual or any member 

5 of such individual’s family or with requests for 

6 information regarding requirements of employ7 ment of such individual within the boycotting 

8 country; and 

9 (F) compliance by a United States person 

10 resident in a foreign country, or agreement by 

11 such a person to comply, with the laws of the 

12 country with respect to the person’s activities 

13 exclusively therein, and such regulations may 

14 contain exceptions for such resident complying 

15 with the laws or regulations of the foreign coun16 try governing imports into such country of 

17 trademarked, trade-named, or similarly specifi18 cally identifiable products, or components of 

19 products for such person’s own use, including 

20 the performance of contractual services within 

21 that country. 

22 (3) LIMITATION ON EXCEPTIONS.—Regulations 

23 issued pursuant to paragraphs (2)(C) and (2)(F) 

24 shall not provide exceptions from paragraphs (1)(B) 

25 and (1)(C). 


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1 (4) ANTITRUST AND CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS NOT

2 AFFECTED.—Nothing in this subsection may be con3 strued to supersede or limit the operation of the 

4 antitrust or civil rights laws of the United States. 

5 (5) EVASION.—This section applies to any 

6 transaction or activity undertaken by or through a 

7 United States person or any other person with in8 tent to evade the provisions of this section or the 

9 regulations issued pursuant to this subsection. The 

10 regulations issued pursuant to this section shall ex11 pressly provide that the exceptions set forth in para12 graph (2) do not permit activities or agreements (ex13 pressed or implied by a course of conduct, including 

14 a pattern of responses) otherwise prohibited, which 

15 are not within the intent of such exceptions. 

16 (d) REPORTS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Regulations issued under 

18 this section shall require that any United States per19 son receiving a request to furnish information, enter 

20 into or implement an agreement, or take any other 

21 action referred to in subsection (c) shall report that 

22 request to the Secretary, together with any other in23 formation concerning the request that the Secretary 

24 determines appropriate. The person shall also sub25 mit to the Secretary a statement regarding whether 


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1 the person intends to comply, and whether the per2 son has complied, with the request. 

3 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—Any 

4 report filed pursuant to this subsection shall be 

5 made available promptly for public inspection and 

6 copying, except that information regarding the quan7 tity, description, and value of any item to which 

8 such report relates may be kept confidential if the 

9 Secretary determines that disclosure of that infor10 mation would place the United States person in11 volved at a competitive disadvantage. 

12 (3) SUMMARIES TO SECRETARY OF STATE.— 

13 The Secretary shall periodically transmit summaries 

14 of the information contained in the reports filed pur15 suant to this subsection to the Secretary of State for 

16 such action as the Secretary of State, in consultation 

17 with the Secretary, considers appropriate to carry 

18 out the purposes set forth in subsection (b). 

19 (e) PREEMPTION.—The provisions of this section and 

20 the regulations issued under this section shall preempt any 

21 law, rule, or regulation that— 

22 (1) is a law, rule, or regulation of any of the 

23 several States or the District of Columbia, or any of 

24 the territories or possessions of the United States, 

25 or of any governmental subdivision thereof; and 


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1 (2) pertains to participation in, compliance 

2 with, implementation of, or the furnishing of infor3 mation regarding restrictive trade practices or boy4 cotts fostered or imposed by foreign countries 

5 against other countries. 

6 (f) PENALTIES.— 

7 (1) UNLAWFUL ACTS.—It shall be unlawful for 

8 a person to violate, attempt to violate, conspire to 

9 violate, or cause a violation of this section or of any 

10 regulation or order issued under this section. 

11 (2) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—A person who, with 

12 knowledge or intent, commits, attempts to commit, 

13 or conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the com14 mission of, an unlawful act described in subsection 

15 (c) shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than 

16 $1,000,000, or, if a natural person, be imprisoned 

17 for not more than 20 years, or both. 

18 (3) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 

19 (A) AUTHORITY.—The President may im20 pose the following civil penalties on a person for 

21 each violation by that person of this section or 

22 any regulation or order issued under this sec23 tion, for each violation: 

24 (i) A fine of not more than $250,000. 


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1 (ii) A prohibition on the person’s abil2 ity to export any goods, technology, or 

3 services, whether or not a license has been 

4 issued previously to authorize such an ex5 port. 

6 (B) PROCEDURES.—Any civil penalty 

7 under this subsection may be imposed only 

8 after notice and opportunity for an agency 

9 hearing on the record in accordance with sec10 tions 554 through 557 of title 5, United States 

11 Code, and shall be subject to judicial review in 

12 accordance with chapter 7 of such title. 

13 (C) STANDARDS FOR LEVELS OF CIVIL

14 PENALTY.—The President may by regulation 

15 provide standards for establishing levels of civil 

16 penalty under this paragraph based upon the 

17 seriousness of the violation, the culpability of 

18 the violator, and the violator’s record of co19 operation with the Government in disclosing the 

20 violation. 

21 (g) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act and annually there23 after, the President shall report to the Congress on the 

24 implementation and enforcement of this section and on ad25 ditional steps taken by the United States to bring about 


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1 the termination of the Arab League boycott of Israel and 

2 to encourage Arab League states to normalize their rela3 tions with Israel. 

4 (h) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘United 

5 States person’’— 

6 (1) means— 

7 (A) any United States resident or national; 

8 (B) any domestic concern (including any 

9 permanent domestic establishment of any for10 eign concern); and 

11 (C) any foreign subsidiary or affiliate (in12 cluding any permanent foreign establishment) 

13 of any domestic concern that is controlled in 

14 fact by such domestic concern, as determined 

15 under regulations of the President; but 

16 (2) does not include an individual resident out17 side the United States who is employed by a person 

18 other than a person described in paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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